Session Length by Age, and Why Longer Is Worse

By Desmond FairbrotherJanuary 10, 2026Training

I once watched a young, bright-eyed coach—fresh off a fancy academy course, no doubt—try to run a ninety-minute tactical session for a group of twelve-year-olds on a Tuesday night in November. By the sixty-minute mark, half the squad were staring at the clouds, and the other half were busy trying to see who could kick

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Planning a Session That Actually Progresses

By Desmond FairbrotherJanuary 1, 2026Training

I’ve sat through enough coaching seminars in heated halls to know that most of them are absolute rubbish. They’ll hand you a glossy folder full of colour-coded diagrams and tell you that the secret to success is a complex, multi-stage progression that requires a degree in mathematics to follow. But let me tell you something:

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