This image popped up on a coaching blog and got me thinking, what is still happening far too regularly on training pitches across Scotland?

I'll kick us off with warm ups without the ball. You're playing football, so why not warm up your touch and your body, rather than doing them separately?

Running as a punishment after a bad game, when the problem is technique and ability!

In terms of negative coaching things that are still being done throughtout the country, i'd say lack of contact time with the ball, and lack of maximum participation are the two big ones. Get everyone with a ball each, prefferably, or even between two. Challenge your players to achieve 400 touches of the ball in your session. It sounds a lot, but recieving a pass, getting it out your feet, moving it to one side and then passing it can easily involve at least 3 touches.

On the other hand, some of the things that i would advise about, as a coach, are as follows:

- send players to collect a ball in small groups. A player being hurt, especially a very young one, is a coaches worst nightmare: sending all 15/20/however many players for a ball all at once is likely to cause a) a mass rush for the 'best ones'
b) players to say 'get me one!' and then for their ball to be booted out of the bag into the onrushing pack.

- make general points to the whole group ("keep going lads, well done!" / "Ball on the deck boys, come on!" "Simple ball!" etc etc) but make your coaching points much more specific and relate to technique when addressing individual players ("Bend your knee before contact" / "Head over the ball" / "Toes of your other, no-kicking, foot point in the direction you want the ball to go") and explain why you're telling them this - "Your last shot went away over the bar, do this and it will stay low and hard, [RELATE TO GAME] that it's more difficult for the goalkeeper to get to and you'll be more likeyl to score" etc etc.

- Focus on fun, and learning through having fun in sport. Not winning at all. (Especially at training.)
Players should enjoy your sessions, be excited to arrive and not want to leave. Relate to game in as much of your speech, drills, activities and warm-ups as you can. No player like suicides/grid sprints. But if you give them a ball and make them dribble the same excercise, it's a lot more fun.

- Don't be feared to ask players to collect the cones/equipment in. Simple really, makes your job easier.

- Try to set-up sessions in which it is a rare occurance that THE WHOLE DRILL has to be dissasembled and collected in, and a whole new one set up. This wastes time! In my last session, i moved one cone in 90 minutes. The only time the rest moved was when they were picked up so we could have a game.

- Enjoy it yourself.

Agree with many if not all of chrismclaughlin123's points. Great advice with regards to collecting the footballs in, attention to detail can set the tone for the whole session! Maximum participation is vital too, on so many occasions in my early days of coaching I would reflect back on a session and think 'that exercise could have been split into two groups and doubled the touches'. Always check if that's an option, even if your exercise is from a manual.

Here's one - when doing a technical drill/exercise, assess whether if a ball goes astray it will see a large number of people become idle, while it is retrieved. You must have seen it, player A miscontrols the ball and eight others stand hands on hips while he gets it from the other side of the pitch.

If possible, bin this exercise. You're better off doing something in smaller groups - don't do a drill because its rotation looks good on the eye when working like clockwork! If you need to do it, make sure there is a decent supply of footballs on standby. Or in the worst case scenario, players have to do an exercise when waiting for the ball to be retrieved.

Players standing doing nothing, through no fault of their own, is a pet hate of mine!

Players standing doing nothing I hate also, but the amount of coaches who do it in -3 weather, with the rain coming at you sideways. Does my head in, lol.

I think pre-game, ball each, let your players get used to the way the ball runs on the park, then pehaps into 2s, 10 feet apart, 1 touch passing (if they can) so they know how the ball will pass. I think pre-game, the most important thing is your players know what they are playing on.

Running for the sake of running is boring. Ball each, if you can.
And everyone standing in a line doing shooting 10 mins before kick off, kinda sends your players backwards. You work to get them up for the game, and some stop, and cool players down again.

In training, same prinicaple, but train how you intend to play. Not that I believe there is one set way of playing, but at least try and have a plan. Saying that, the plan is get ready to change the plan.
With the winter nights coming, its very important to have a well thought out session, nothing to new at this time of the year. So if you train an hour, or 2 hours, whatever, your players know what to do.

Go watch the VERY BEST players on the planet, and you will see them work day in, day out, on the fundamentals of football. The easy stuff. Good teams just need motivated and thier basics kept up to scratch. A team lower in the league, or teams needing that extra bit, I suggest a tactics board pre-game so you can give a visual interpretation of your message.

Saying all that, depends on age level, quality of your side.
For me you coach to your best players ability, whilst tryint to encourage the rest to do things slower, once they get the hang of it, get them to speed it up. Again, all depending on age level. The older the player/side, the easier things become. IMO.