Forty-Plus, One Short

Forty kids on the pitch and three mentors on a good night, four on a great one — the difference between chaos and a brilliant session is not more coaches, it is a carousel that keeps every child touching a ball instead of queueing, and a captain system that makes the group help you run it.

Gaelic football
Any age · Large group
60 min
40+ players
4 coaches
Effort 3/5
Full pitch, multi-station
large-numbers
stations
carousel
crowd-control
any-age

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: one football per two players if possible, 60 cones, bibs in four colours, a loud horn or whistle, four small goals or pole sets

Warm-up10 min

Colour Teams In

Setup: As players arrive, hand each a bib in one of four colours — this is your organising system for the whole night, so do it at the gate. Mark one large central grid. Have your captains, two per colour, picked before you start.

How it works: With big numbers, organisation is the session, so it starts the moment they walk in: a coloured bib each sorts forty players into four manageable teams before a ball is kicked. Warm up all together in the big grid with a movement game — everyone jogging and passing, coach calling simple actions the whole crowd does at once, colours grouping and regrouping on command so they learn to find their team fast. Name the captains out loud and give them a real job: gather your colour on the horn, count your heads, lead your team between stations. The crowd that felt unmanageable at the gate is now four tidy teams with leaders, and you have not blown the whistle in anger once.

What to say

“Tell them: 'your bib colour is your team all night — remember it.'”
“Tell them: 'captains, your job is to gather and count your colour on the horn.'”
“Tell them: 'when I call your colour, find each other fast.'”

Easier

Fewer, bigger colour teams and very simple whole-group actions so young players learn the system without confusion.

Harder

STEPR: add quick colour-versus-colour mini-challenges within the warm-up so the teams bond and the captains start leading early.

Activity15 min

Station Carousel A

Setup: Set four stations around the pitch, one per coach, each in its own coned area: a scoring station, a handling station, a solo-and-carry station, and a fun challenge station. Each colour team starts at one station.

How it works: The carousel is the engine of a big night. Each of the four teams is at one station with one coach, so instead of one adult managing forty, each manages ten — a ratio that suddenly works. On the horn, teams rotate one station clockwise, captains leading their colour across while coaches stay put and simply re-run their station for the next group. Keep every station high-touch and low-queue — split each group into small working pairs, keep a challenge to chase, and let the coach give real feedback because ten is coachable where forty is not. Four rotations of roughly three to four minutes and every child has done all four skills without ever standing in a long line.

What to say

“Tell them: 'coaches stay, teams move — you run your one station all night.'”
“Tell them: 'split your ten into pairs — keep everyone busy, no long queues.'”
“Tell them: 'captains lead your colour to the next station on the horn.'”

Easier

Slower rotations and simpler station tasks so young or new groups settle; a helper shadowing the captains.

Harder

STEPR: add a scorecard each team carries between stations, and a small target to beat at each, giving the carousel a competitive thread.

Activity15 min

Station Carousel B

Setup: Convert two skill stations into small-sided game stations and keep two as sharp skill stations, so the second half of the carousel tilts toward playing. Same four coloured teams, same rotation system.

How it works: Now shift the carousel from skills toward games while keeping the crowd-control machine intact. Two stations become small games — a three-v-three or a mini-scoring game where a whole team of ten splits into two short games at once, so nobody watches. The other two stay as skill stations to keep touches high. The rotation, the captains and the horn all work exactly as before, so the group runs itself while you coach. Because each coach owns one station, the games station coach becomes an expert at that one game across the night and can referee it well. The children feel the session flow from learning to playing without ever sensing the machinery underneath.

What to say

“Tell them: 'game stations split into two short games — everyone plays, no subs standing.'”
“Tell them: 'same system — captains lead, coaches stay, horn moves you.'”
“Tell them: 'keep the games short so the crown and the ball keep moving.'”

Easier

Keep three skill stations and one game so less experienced groups get more guided touches before playing.

Harder

STEPR: make all four stations games of different sizes and rules so the carousel becomes a games festival, testing the players across formats.

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

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.