Base Camp

The January engine built entirely inside ball work — nobody runs a lap all night, and everybody runs.

Gaelic football
Adult
90 min
16–30 players
1 coach
Effort 3/5
Full pitch
preseason
aerobic-base
possession
conditioning

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: 12 footballs, 24 cones, bibs for half, water at the fence

Warm-up12 min

Raise, No Laps

Setup: Width of the pitch. Pairs, one ball between two. Written for a player-coach: set it up, join in, talk only at the turns.

How it works: Continuous circuit across the width and back: hand-passing on the jog out, dynamic stretch at the far side (alternate — hamstring sweeps, open gates, lunge and reach), kick-passing short on the return. Six widths, pace creeping up each one. Finish with three 60-metre build-up runs at 70, 80 and 90 percent, ball carried on the last one. First week back, half the panel hasn't kicked a ball since October — the circuit warms them up and quietly tells you who did anything over Christmas.

What to say

“Conversational pace early — if you can't talk, ease off, it's week one.”
“Move through the stretches, don't sit into them.”
“Build-ups top out at 90 percent — nobody pulls a hamstring in January.”

Easier

Four widths, build-ups at 70 percent only.

Harder

Eight widths; kick passes on the move both directions.

Activity18 min

Keep-Ball Clocks

Setup: 20×20m boxes, ten players per box: seven in possession, three defenders in bibs. Spare ball at each box corner so a wild pass never stops the clock.

How it works: Three-minute clocks of 7v3 keep-ball. Possession counts passes aloud; defenders hunt as a pack of three. Any defender who wins the ball or forces it dead swaps with the passer at fault — sort it inside five seconds and play on. Between clocks, sixty seconds of water and one coaching sentence, no more. Four clocks. The aerobic load hides in the chasing and the constant support angles: the three do the sprinting, the seven do the thinking, and everyone swaps through both jobs.

Rounds: 4 × 3min clocks, 60s water between

What to say

“Receive on the half-turn — see two passes ahead, not one.”
“Defenders hunt as three or not at all — one chaser is a rest for the seven.”
“When the box goes quiet the standard has dropped — talk is effort.”

Easier

8v2 for the first clock; unlimited touches.

Harder

Two-touch across the board; a defended pass over the box's waist-high imaginary bar is dead.

Activity18 min

Width Waves

Setup: Full pitch split lengthways into three channels with cones. Waves of four players, queued on the end line, two balls per wave in circulation. A shooting zone marked at the far end.

How it works: Each wave travels the length of the pitch: hand-passing inside your channel, and at least two kick passes that SWITCH channels on the way up — the switch is the rep that matters. Finish with one strike at the target or posts from outside 20m, then jog back down the sideline as the next wave goes. Six lengths per wave. The jog-back is the recovery interval; keep it honest and keep the waves flowing so the pitch never stands still. This is your aerobic session — it just looks like football.

Rounds: 6 lengths per wave, jog-back recovery between

What to say

“Kick to switch, hands to keep — use both tonight.”
“Time the run so the ball never waits for a receiver.”
“The jog back is recovery, not a stroll — round the cone and be ready.”

Easier

Four lengths; one switch kick required; finish with a hand-pass into the zone instead of a shot.

Harder

Eight lengths; the last length is at match pace with a defender delaying in the middle third.

The rest of this session is free — along with 3 more this week.

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.