Volunteers, taken seriously.
Lifeboat crews are volunteers, and nobody calls them “just volunteers”. Here’s how a grassroots football (soccer) club can treat its volunteer coaches the same way, in six steps across one season: clear expectations, real support, and a recruitment evening that brings next season’s coaches in.
- 6 steps
- 1 season
- 2-way deal
- 0 paid staff needed
“Just volunteers” sells everyone short
Grassroots football runs on parent volunteers. Most start with an introductory course that doesn’t prepare them to coach, get handed a team and are left to it. “They’re just volunteers” sounds kind, but it lowers what clubs expect and what they offer in return, and the children are the ones who lose out.
Lifeboat crews show it doesn’t have to be that way. Their volunteers work to a high standard because the organisation around them makes that standard achievable. A grassroots club can do the same for its coaches. It doesn’t need a big budget: it needs clear expectations, and support built around a volunteer’s week.
Both are volunteers
The difference is what sits around them.
| Lifeboat crew | Grassroots coach today | |
|---|---|---|
| Gives up their own time | Yes | Yes |
| Trained to a clear standard | Yes | An introductory course |
| Supported week to week | Yes | Often left to it |
| Knows what’s expected | Yes | Rarely written down |
| Treated as part of the team | Yes | “Just a volunteer” |
Your season, in six steps
Tap a step to see what the club does, what coaches get and what to keep an eye on.
Make coaching a priority
The committee agrees that coaching matters as much as fixtures and kit, and decides who leads it.
Names one person to lead coaching, even if they're a volunteer too.
Know who to go to from day one.
Where you're starting from: how coaches plan and run sessions now.
Write down the deal
One page that sets out what the club asks of its coaches and what it gives back.
Writes its own side of the deal first, in plain words.
Know exactly what's expected of them and what support they'll get.
Whether every coach has seen the deal and understands it.
Give every coach a plan
No coach should have to invent a session on the drive to training.
Gives every team a season plan for its age group.
Prepare in minutes, with video that shows what good looks like.
How many teams train with a plan each week.
Check in, don't check up
Regular, friendly contact catches problems before coaches quietly give up.
Asks coaches what's working and what isn't, and acts on it.
Get help early, before small problems turn into resignations.
Whether coaches stay, and why they leave if they do.
Run a recruitment evening
Current coaches tell next season's parents what coaching at the club has given them.
Hosts the evening and invites next season's parents.
Speak from experience, in their own words.
How many parents sign up to coach, and why.
Review and go again
Look back at what changed, and make next season's deal better.
Updates the deal and the support for next season.
See their feedback shape how the club coaches.
What changed: teams with a plan, coaches who stayed, new volunteers.
The deal, both ways
Clear expectations only work if they run in both directions. The club's side comes first.
What the club gives
- ✓A season plan for your age group
- ✓Sessions you can prepare in minutes, with video
- ✓Someone to ask when you're stuck
- ✓Your evenings back: no hunting for sessions
- ✓A say in how the club coaches
What the club asks
- →Turn up with a plan for every session
- →Use the season plan for your age group
- →Take five minutes to prepare each week
- →Put development ahead of results
- →Tell us what isn't working
“Coaching children might not be life saving. But it can be life changing.”
Terry Barton, Founder, The Coaching Manual
Less than you think
- One person to lead coaching. A volunteer is fine. What matters is that coaches know who it is.
- A one-page deal. What the club asks, what it gives back, written before the first session.
- A plan for every team. A season plan for each age group, so nobody starts from a blank page.
- One evening in February or March. For current coaches to talk to next season’s parents.
Step three is where we can help. A club account gives every coach a season plan for their age group, with full sessions and video, so the club’s side of the deal is ready from week one.
Questions
Is this about asking volunteers to do more?
No. It’s about clubs giving more. Clear expectations work both ways, and the club’s side of the deal comes first.
We’re a small club. Is this too much?
No. The steps work with three teams or thirty. If time is short, start with the deal and a plan for every team, and add the rest as you go.
Do we need The Coaching Manual to do this?
No. Most of the steps need nothing but time and goodwill. Step three, a plan for every team, is where a club account helps: season plans, full sessions and video for every age group.
We’re already mid-season. Is it too late?
No. Write the deal and get a plan to every team now, then run the recruitment evening in February or March as planned.
Want help putting it in place?
We’ll help you get a season plan to every team and your coaches started, so your side of the deal is ready from week one.