📋 Session Plan
U13 GK — Crosses & Communication
A 60-minute goalkeeper-focused session covering aerial work, crosses, and communication — the modern GK skills under-coached at grassroots.
A 60-minute goalkeeper-focused session covering aerial work, crosses, and communication — the modern GK skills under-coached at grassroots.
GK joins as outfield player — modern keeping requires foot skills. 8 minutes of activation. Add the called-skills layer for cognitive engagement.
Refresher block before the crosses work. Run Phases 1-3 only (skip high diving). 4 minutes set position, 6 minutes catching, 6 minutes low diving. Establishes good habits before adding aerial complexity.
Session centrepiece. Run all 5 phases. The progression from call-only to active attackers is critical — don't skip Phase 1. Most U13 keepers fail at crosses because they never learned to communicate clearly first.
5v5 with full goal + GK at one end, mini-goal at the other. Constraint: attackers can only score from crosses (delivered from wide channels marked with cones). Forces lots of cross reps for the GK to apply learning. Run as 6-minute halves.
GK joins as outfield. Closing reflection focused on the GK: 'what cross was the hardest decision today?' Peer + GK reflection embeds the learning.
Clear demonstrations and high energy. Keep the session moving with minimal queuing, and reinforce one or two key coaching points rather than overloading players with information.
Players standing in queues (set up enough stations to keep everyone active) and the session running too long on one activity (keep blocks tight and move on while engagement is high).
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Coaches tip: Post-session recovery nutrition matters as much as the drills themselves — MaxiNutrition's recovery range is built for exactly this.
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Building conditioning between sessions at home? DeerRun UK's home treadmills make it easy to keep up cardio work off the pitch.