Blog — TacticsBoard

Research-based articles on football coaching: practice planning, player development, game-based training and practical coaching tools.

All blog posts

• 5 passing drills for youth teams - by age group — Five research-based passing drills for different age groups. From gate passes to rondos - practical instructions and difficulty scaling.
• Football practice planning - a guide for coaches — A comprehensive guide to session structure, age-group recommendations, and season planning fundamentals. Based on research.
• Why we built Tactics Board — Tactics Board was born from a coaching need. Learn how real problems with practice planning led to building a digital tool.
• How to keep 20 players active in one training session — Research shows 31% of youth training time is lost to inactivity. Three principles to keep your entire group moving.
• Game-based training – why drills aren't enough — Research shows game-based training develops decision-making, skills and fitness more effectively than traditional drills. Play-Practice-Play in practice.
• Digital practice planning — paper vs app? — We compare paper and digital planning based on research. When is a notebook enough, and when should you switch to a digital tool?
• Five common mistakes in youth football coaching — 70% of children drop out of organised sport by age 13. Five research-backed mistakes coaches can avoid through better session design.
• Football coaching tools compared — We compared five football session planning tools: Sport Session Planner, SoccerDrive, Football Planner, CoachTools and TacticsBoard.
• Adapting drills on the fly — when and how? — A session plan is a hypothesis. How to recognise when a drill needs adjusting mid-session, and which changes actually work.
• Season periodization for youth football coaches — Periodization does not require a sports science degree. Season structure, weekly rhythm, and load management in practice.
• Physical training for 10–14-year-olds in football — How to develop speed, strength and endurance as part of football sessions. A research-based guide to biological age, FIFA 11+ Kids warm-ups and load management.
• 1v1 dribbling — how to train beating a defender — Why dribbling ability matters and how to train it with small-sided games and game situations. Research on Finnish juniors and 1v1 skills.
• 1v1 defending — how to teach it — Finnish juniors lose duels to international opponents. Research on why defending is body control rather than speed, and how to train 1v1 defending.
• Team events — games and line-ups in your team calendar — The new team events feature: a team calendar for trainings and games, plus a lineup for each match. For clubs and teams.