The bag itself

A single bag that holds everything below, that you can carry in one trip from car to pitch — sounds obvious, but a kit bag that requires two trips (or gets left partially behind) defeats the point. A holdall or rucksack with room to spare for a first-aid kit and bibs is the right size.

What's actually in it

  • Balls — enough for "one each" at your squad size, appropriately sized for your age group (see our equipment guide).
  • Cones — a set of at least 20, ideally in 2-3 colours for quick visual instructions ("everyone to a yellow cone").
  • Bibs — two colours minimum, enough for half your squad each.
  • First-aid kit — see our injuries guide for what's actually useful.
  • A whistle — for getting attention across a noisy pitch; not for refereeing your own training.
  • Spare items — a spare ball (punctures happen), spare bibs, and a small towel.

Paperwork worth keeping in the bag

A laminated or waterproof copy of your emergency contact list and any player medical notes (see our registration and liability guide) belongs in the bag itself, not just at home or on your phone — a phone can die or lose signal, a laminated sheet doesn't. Keep it in a sealed pocket where it won't get wet or lost among the bibs.

Adjusting for the weather

A few genuinely useful additions depending on conditions: a spare set of dry bibs in winter (wet bibs are miserable and slow to swap between teams), sun cream and extra water in summer, and a couple of high-vis bibs or cones for darker winter evening sessions. None of this needs to live in the bag year-round — swap seasonal items in and out at the same time you check the rest of the kit.

What's genuinely optional

Goals (often provided at your venue — check before buying), a coaching board (useful but not essential — see our dedicated guide), and anything marketed as "professional" or "elite" — grassroots coaching needs functional kit, not aspirational kit.

Keeping it organised

A bag where everything has a "place" — cones in one section, bibs in another — means setup and pack-down are faster, and you're less likely to arrive missing something. Five minutes packing the bag the night before a session beats discovering a missing item on the pitch.

The one thing coaches forget most

Water — for yourself, not just players. A coach who's dehydrated and flagging by the end of a session is less effective and less patient than one who's looked after themselves too. It's an easy thing to deprioritise while focused on everyone else, and an easy fix.

Starting out on a budget

If you're kitting out a bag from nothing, prioritise in this order: enough cones to mark a pitch and grids (cheap and used in almost every drill), bibs (two colours, half your squad each), then balls (borrow or share with the club if funds are tight before this season's kit arrives), and only then everything else. A first-aid kit is the one item worth buying properly rather than skimping on, since it's the one you actually need to work when it matters.

Sharing a bag across multiple coaches

If more than one coach or helper runs sessions for the same squad, agree who's responsible for the bag on which day rather than assuming it'll sort itself out — kit that's "everyone's responsibility" quietly becomes no one's, and items go missing faster from a shared bag than a single coach's own. A simple rotation, or one named person as the permanent custodian with others borrowing specific items as needed, avoids most of the friction.

What to do when something goes missing

Cones and bibs disappear steadily over a season — left on pitches, taken home by mistake, blown into hedges. Rather than treating every loss as a crisis, build a small buffer into your kit count from the start (a few spare cones and bibs beyond what you strictly need) so a missing item doesn't force an emergency replacement mid-session, and do a quick headcount of kit at the end of each session while it's still fresh in players' minds where things were left.