Sharp, Short, Sunday-Ready

The Tuesday before championship — fresh legs, hot touch, every restart rehearsed, and everyone home before the tea goes cold.

Ladies football
Adult
60 min
18–26 players
2 coaches
Effort 3/5
Half pitch with goals
adult
championship
match prep
set pieces
taper

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: 12 footballs (size 4), 24 cones, 20 bibs (2 colours), posts and a keeper

Warm-up10 min

Fast Feet, First Touch

Setup: Pods of four with a ball, 15×15m grids. Exactly the warm-up you'll run Sunday, so the bodies learn the routine.

How it works: Two minutes easy hand-passing on the move. Two minutes of sharp feet: five-metre accelerations to meet every pass, decelerate soft, give and go. Two minutes kicking within the pod, 15–20m, receiver always moving onto it. Two rounds of three rising strides across the grid — fast, not flogged. Between rounds, quick dynamic stretching: hips, hamstrings, groin, and two soft hop-and-stick landings each. Nothing here should make anyone blow — it's a sharpener, not a session.

What to say

“Move to meet every ball — championship pace starts in the warm-up.”
“Decelerate soft, land quiet.”
“This exact routine Sunday — learn the order tonight.”

Easier

Cut the strides to two rounds; kicking at 12m.

Harder

Weak-hand passes for one round; strides become full 20m sprints on the last round only.

Activity14 min

Set-Piece Circuit

Setup: Half pitch, real posts, your match keeper. Walk the shapes first with bibs marking Sunday's positions, then run them at match speed.

How it works: Rotate through your restarts in ten-rep bursts. Our kickouts: the keeper strikes from her hands in the ladies game, so rehearse the three calls — short to the peeling corner-back, mid to the wing show, long to the midfield pair attacking the drop. Their kickouts: set the press trigger, walk everyone's man, then contest two live. Our frees around the scoring zone: the taker's routine untouched, everyone else holding their rebound lanes. Sideline balls near the 45: one rehearsed move, no improvising. Two minutes per piece, brisk, coach narrating quietly — the aim is recognition, not fatigue.

What to say

“Know your call before the keeper lifts her head.”
“Walk it perfect before you run it fast.”
“Rebound lanes on frees — the miss is a plan too.”

Easier

Walk-through only with a jog finish; skip the live contest.

Harder

Coach calls a surprise scenario mid-circuit — wet-ball short kickout, keeper off her line — and the shape must answer without a huddle.

Activity12 min

Finishers

Setup: Three shooting lanes around the D: left arc, centre, right arc. Groups of six per lane — two feeders, two shooters, two retrievers, rotating every six shots. Keeper live.

How it works: Every shooter takes three kinds of finish per rotation: one arriving onto a fisted pop at pace, one off her favoured foot from her Sunday position, one free from the ground or hands wherever she'd actually stand over one. High tempo, short queues, keeper working every ball. Nobody corrects technique two days out — feed confidence only. A miss gets the next ball inside five seconds; the last strike of every rotation must be a score before the group rotates, everyone watching, everyone clapping it in.

What to say

“Your shot, your spot — shoot what Sunday will ask of you.”
“Routine on the free: same steps, same breath, every time.”
“End on a score — always leave on a made one.”

Easier

Closer range, no keeper in lane one.

Harder

A teammate closes out with a hand up on the second finish; keeper calls which corner she's leaving open, then moves late.

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

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.