A coaching board (magnetic tactical board, dry-wipe pitch board) is one of the most underused pieces of kit in grassroots football. Most coaches explain drills verbally, which is slower and less effective than showing the drill visually. A 30-second board demonstration replaces 90 seconds of verbal explanation and is better understood, particularly by U9–U13 players who process visual information more readily than verbal.
| Type | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Most flexibleDry-wipe boards | Drawing anything freehand — formations, drill setups, movement arrows. | Marker lines blend together on complex diagrams; needs wiping between uses. |
| Best for team talksMagnetic boards | Tactical sessions and team talks — each player disc is clearly visible and easy to read. | Slower to set up than dry-wipe. |
| Best for sideline useClipboard boards | Fits in a kit bag, works in rain, ideal for individual coaching moments with 4–6 players. | Not suitable for full team tactics sessions. |
| Best free optionApp alternatives | 1-to-1 tactical conversations — free or low-cost. | Players need to crowd around a phone screen — less effective for group viewing. |
Dry-wipe boards
The most common type: a printed pitch on a white surface, with dry-wipe markers to draw formations, drill setups, and movement arrows. The advantage is flexibility — you can draw anything. The disadvantage is that marker lines blend together on complex diagrams and the board needs wiping between uses.
Dry-wipe coaching boards: Magnetic dry-wipe coaching board* · Double-sided tactics board* · A4 coaching board with clip*
* As an Amazon Associate, SimpleDrills earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability correct at time of writing.
Magnetic boards
Magnetic boards use player discs and cones that can be moved around the pitch surface. They're slower to set up than dry-wipe but cleaner to read — each player disc is clearly visible. Better for tactical sessions and team talks than for drill demonstrations. Look for double-sided boards that show both 7v7 and 11v11 pitches.
Magnetic coaching boards: Magnetic tactics board with discs* · Double-sided magnetic board 7v7/11v11*
* As an Amazon Associate, SimpleDrills earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability correct at time of writing.
Clipboard coaching boards
A clipboard-sized coaching board (A4 or A5) is the most practical format for sideline use — it fits in a kit bag, can be used in rain, and is visible to a small group of 4–6 players during a drill stoppage. Not suitable for full team tactics sessions, but ideal for individual coaching moments and drill setup explanations.
Clipboard coaching boards: A4 waterproof coaching clipboard* · A5 tactics clipboard*
* As an Amazon Associate, SimpleDrills earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability correct at time of writing.
App alternatives
Tactical apps (Tactics Board, Easy Sports Graphics, Coach's Eye) are a free or low-cost alternative to physical boards. The limitation: players need to crowd around your phone screen, which is less effective than a physical board that all 8 players can see simultaneously from 3 metres. Physical board for group use; app for 1-to-1 tactical conversations.
When a board actually helps, and when it slows you down
A board pays for itself on any drill with a moving pattern — passing sequences, pressing triggers, overlapping runs — because a static verbal explanation of movement is genuinely hard for most players under about U12 to picture correctly first time. It's less useful for simple drills (a straight dribbling slalom, a shooting-from-range drill) where there's nothing to demonstrate that a quick physical walk-through doesn't cover faster. A rough rule that works well in practice: if the drill involves more than two players moving in sequence, use the board first; if it's one player repeating one action, skip it and just show them physically.
Getting the most out of team-talk boards
The most common mistake with magnetic boards isn't the board itself — it's using all 11 (or 7, or 9) discs at once for every explanation. Players lose the thread when the whole formation is on the board and only two positions are actually relevant to the point being made. Move the irrelevant discs off the board, or use a smaller board section, and only show the players and space that matter to the specific coaching point. This is also why a double-sided board (one side each for your two most common formats, e.g. 7v7 and 9v9) earns its slightly higher price if your side plays across multiple age groups or formats through a season.
Keeping a dry-wipe board legible over a season
Dry-wipe boards degrade faster than most coaches expect if the wrong pens are used — permanent marker on a dry-wipe surface is very difficult to remove and effectively ends the board's life. Only use dry-wipe/whiteboard-specific markers, wipe the board with a proper whiteboard cleaner (or isopropyl alcohol) every few weeks rather than just a dry cloth, and store it flat or upright rather than face-down in a bag, where the surface picks up scratches from other kit that make older marker lines "ghost" permanently into the surface.