By Sunday evening most coaches remember the goals, the one decision they disagreed with, and an argument on the touchline. The rest of the match, which is where the coaching is, has gone. Notes fix that. The trouble is that most match notes are never read again, because they were too long to write, or too vague to use.
This guide is a way of taking notes that fits a volunteer: no analyst, no spare hand, and a game in front of you.
Write the minute and a few words
The one rule is to put the minute with the note. "23': over-hit pass down the right" is useful on Sunday. "Passing was poor" is not, because you cannot go back to the moment or tell whether it happened once or ten times.
A note is a few words, not a sentence. If it takes longer than you can look away from the pitch, it is too long. Write the minute, then the thing you saw.
Note three kinds of thing
Do not try to write everything. Three kinds of note cover what you need:
- Moments. Something that went well, or something to improve, at a particular minute. A clean pass out from the back. A first touch that ran away from the player.
- Patterns. The third time the same thing has happened in ten minutes. A pattern is worth more than ten separate moments, so when you notice one, write it down as a pattern.
- Questions for later. Something you cannot work out from the touchline. "Why do we lose it in the middle after half-time?" Write it and leave it. You are not going to solve it now.
Use the same few headings every week
If you describe the same thing in new words every match, you cannot see it come back. Pick a handful of headings and keep them, for example:
- In possession: building from the back, getting forward, creating chances.
- Out of possession: closing down, keeping shape, winning it back.
- Moments of change: just after we lose it, just after we win it.
- Restarts: kick-offs, goal kicks, corners, throw-ins.
After four or five matches the same headings show what keeps coming up, and what you have never practised.
Write what happened, not what a child is like
Describe the action. "Pass hit too hard, ran out of play" says what to practise. "Sam can't pass" says nothing you can coach, and it is a label that sticks to a child. Keep notes about the thing that happened, and keep them for the coaches.
When you cannot write
Some matches you are running the whole thing on your own. Two ways round it:
- Say it. A short voice note on your phone, with the minute, is quicker than writing.
- Ask a helper. A parent or another coach with the clock and a pen can write the minute and a few words while you coach. Show them the headings.
If you take photos, video or voice notes of children, follow your club's safeguarding policy and the FA's guidance on photography and filming, including the permissions you need, before you start.
Within two days, pick two things
Notes are only worth it if something changes. Within a day or two, read them through and choose two things, not ten: one thing that went well, to keep, and one to improve. Then plan one practice for the improvement. Put it in the next session, and say the one coaching point in words a nine-year-old understands.
A simple page is enough:
- The minute and the note.
- Which heading it belongs under.
- Went well, or to improve.
- The one practice it leads to.
Try it for a month
One match is a guess. Four matches show the pattern. After a month, look at which heading has the most "to improve" notes, and which you have not practised at all. That is next month's training plan, and it came from your own team, not from a book.
Nothing Unlucky is built around exactly this: a clock for the match, notes stamped with the minute, and a Team screen that shows what keeps coming up. See what it does.