Blitz Day Blueprint

Sixty kids, one pitch, four stations and a hooter — a Saturday-morning blitz that runs itself, with no queues and no lost child.

Gaelic football
U8–U12
90 min
40–80 kids plus helpers
6 coaches
Effort 3/5
Full pitch, split into quarters
blitz
stations
juvenile
club day
organisation

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: 60+ cones, 20 footballs (mixed sizes per age), 40 bibs in 4 colours, 4 station signs, first-aid kit, a whistle or air horn, a printed rotation sheet per helper

Warm-up10 min

The Big Circle

Setup: Every child in one giant circle around the centre of the pitch, colour-bibbed into their four blitz teams before they arrive at the circle — bibs on at registration, not on the grass. Lead coach in the middle with a ball; helpers spaced around the circle rim.

How it works: Echo warm-up: the lead coach shows a move, sixty kids copy it loud — jog on the spot, high knees, star jumps, pretend solos, a roar for the club. Then Simon Says with football moves to catch the messers, two rounds. Finish with the sorting sprint: on the horn, each colour team runs to its own station corner where their helper is holding a matching cone in the air. The warm-up's real job is teaching the rotation: when the horn goes, look for your colour, run to it.

What to say

“Copy me big and loud — tiny moves don't count.”
“Find your colour before you run.”
“When the horn goes, freeze, look, then go.”

Easier

Walk the sorting run the first time with helpers leading each colour like ducklings.

Harder

Sort blindfold-style: helpers hide the cones behind their backs until the horn sounds.

Activity24 min

Stations 1 & 2 — Target Alley and Tail Tag

Setup: The pitch is quartered with cone lines; each quarter is a station with its own helper who stays put all morning — the kids rotate, the helpers never do. This block runs the first two rotations. Station 1, Target Alley: six tall-cone targets along a line, throwing/kicking arc 8–12m back depending on age. Station 2, Tail Tag: a 25×25m square, a bib tucked in every waistband as a tail.

How it works: Target Alley: teams split across six targets so no more than three kids per target. Knock the cone with a fist pass, throw or kick per the helper's call for that age; reset your own cone, back of your mini-line of two. Points roar-counted per team. Tail Tag: everyone guards their tail while stealing others, one hand carrying a ball at all times for the older ages. Tails collected go to the helper; most tails when the horn sounds wins the round. Twelve minutes at a station, water on the horn, rotate clockwise to the next quarter.

Rounds: 4 stations × 12 min, horn every 12, water at every rotation, clockwise only

What to say

“Three per target means nobody stands still longer than a breath.”
“Reset your own cone — you knock it, you build it.”
“Tails: eyes up, spin away, protect the ball too.”

Easier

Bigger targets closer in; tag square split in two so little legs aren't hunted by big ones.

Harder

Weak-hand knocks only for U12s; Tail Tag adds a solo-every-ten-steps rule.

Activity24 min

Stations 3 & 4 — Score Zones and Relay Roads

Setup: Rotations three and four bring every team through the far quarters. Station 3, Score Zones: two mini gate goals and a scoring square in front of each, balls stacked with the helper. Station 4, Relay Roads: three parallel cone roads about 15m long, each with a bounce spot midway and a turning cone at the end.

How it works: Score Zones: 3v3 mini games, first to three scores then rotate the resting three in — score by a hand-pass caught in the square or a kick through the gate, age depending. Helper referees loudly and generously. Relay Roads: teams of no more than four per road. Carry the ball down the road, bounce on the spot, round the cone, back, hand over. Then variation laps: solo lap, weak-hand carry lap, backwards-jog-with-ball lap. Keep team scores on fingers held high so every child can read the state of the race.

What to say

“Three-a-side means everyone touches the ball every game.”
“Hand the ball over, never throw it — the swap is part of the race.”
“Cheer the last runner louder than the first.”

Easier

Score Zones become 2v2 with no defending inside the square; relay bounce becomes a placed-ball pick-up.

Harder

Score Zones add a two-pass-before-scoring rule; relays carry two balls at once on the final lap.

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

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.