Many strengths, some different needs
Players with ADHD often bring real strengths to football — high energy, quick reactions, and the ability to fully throw themselves into a game. Some common coaching adjustments help these strengths show up more often, and help training feel less frustrating for everyone, including the player themselves.
Structure and predictability help everyone
A consistent session structure — similar shape week to week (see our session-planning guides) — particularly benefits players who find unpredictable environments harder to settle into. This doesn't mean rigid or boring; it means the broad shape (warm-up, activity, game) stays familiar even as the specific content varies.
Short, active instructions
Long verbal explanations are hard for most young players to sit through — and particularly so for some players. "Show, then do" (a brief demonstration, then straight into doing it) generally works better than extended talking for any group, and especially benefits players who find sitting and listening for long periods genuinely difficult.
Transitions are often the hardest moment
The gaps between activities — packing up cones, moving to a new area, waiting for the next thing to start — are frequently where things go sideways, not because of the activities themselves. A quick countdown ("two minutes until we switch"), or giving a player a small job during the transition (carrying cones, being first to the new spot), can smooth exactly these moments.
Channel energy, don't suppress it
"Sit still and wait your turn" is hard for a lot of young players and particularly so for some. Where possible, activities that keep everyone moving (see our small-sided games guide) reduce the moments where "stillness" is being asked for at all — sidestepping the issue rather than fighting it.
Working with parents
If a parent shares specific strategies that work well for their child — particular phrases, warning signs before frustration builds, what helps them reset — that's valuable information worth genuinely using, not just acknowledging. Parents are usually the people with the most experience of what works for their own child.
This isn't about labels
Most of the adjustments above — short instructions, predictable structure, minimal standing-around, channeling energy into activity — make sessions better for every player, not just any specific child. Good inclusive coaching practice tends to be good coaching practice, full stop.