Green Flags

Every girl shoots dozens of times tonight, misses get coached instead of groaned at, and the quiet ones leave believing the posts belong to them too.

Ladies football
U12
60 min
12–20 girls
2 coaches
Effort 3/5
Half pitch with one goal
u12
shooting
confidence
kicking
finishing

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: 10 footballs (size 3 or 4 per your league), 24 cones, 8 bibs, one set of posts (portable goals work — or two tall cones as posts)

Warm-up8 min

Gates of Gold

Setup: A 25×25m square with six cone gates scattered inside, a ball per girl.

How it works: Girls solo and carry around the square. On GOLD, each girl kicks her ball low through the nearest empty gate, chases it, picks it up clean off the ground and carries on — that's a shot, a chase and a pick-up in one move. On SILVER, it's a fist pass through a gate instead. Every kick counts out loud; nobody waits for a turn. Last two minutes: kick through a gate to a partner arriving on the far side, catch and return.

What to say

“Kick through the ball, not at it — finish with your laces pointing at the gate.”
“Chase every kick like it's a breaking ball on Sunday.”
“Head down through the strike, head up straight after.”

Easier

Wider gates, kicking from the hands at walking pace.

Harder

Weak foot on GOLD; gates shrink to one cone-width.

Activity14 min

Round the Clock

Setup: An arc of five shooting cones around the goal, 13–20m out, numbered 1 to 5 aloud. Three groups of 4–6: shooters at the arc, retrievers behind the goal, feeders at the 20m line with the balls. Rotate the groups every four minutes.

How it works: Shooters work around the clock: from each cone, take a kick from the hands over the bar. Score at a cone, move to the next; miss, stay and take one more, then move anyway — nobody gets stuck. The feeder hands or fist-passes each ball in so the shooter takes it on the move. Retrievers return balls to the feeders, never to the shooter — keeps the queue empty and the balls flowing. First girl around the clock calls it, everyone finishes their cone, count total flags per group.

What to say

“Pick your spot between the posts before the ball arrives.”
“Ball drops onto the laces, ankle locked, smooth swing.”
“Miss? Next cone, next shot — goldfish memory.”

Easier

Bring the arc to 10m; score over the crossbar height between the posts, no bar needed.

Harder

Every second cone is weak foot; add a passive defender who stands one metre off, hands up.

Activity12 min

Pressure Cooker

Setup: Shooting channel from the 30m line to goal. Shooter starts on the 30, chaser starts 5m behind her, feeder on the wing with the balls. Optional keeper in goal — rotate her every few minutes so nobody's a target all night.

How it works: Feeder fist-passes into the shooter's path. She attacks the space, takes a maximum of one solo, and gets her shot away before the chaser catches up — the chaser can shadow and pressure but not pull or push. Over the bar is 1, a goal is 3, and any shot got away under real pressure earns a loud SHOT call from the group whatever the result. Shooter becomes chaser, chaser joins the feed line. Everyone shoots at least six times.

What to say

“First touch forward — attack the space, not the chaser.”
“Shoot early — the extra step is where she catches you.”
“Strike it the same with someone on your shoulder as alone.”

Easier

Chaser starts 8m back and jogs; no keeper.

Harder

Chaser starts 3m back; shot must come off the solo without breaking stride.

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

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.