know.

CookbookHobbies and playNo. 57

A youth coach’s playbookpractice plans, rules and a season parents can read

Recipe No. 57 · Hobbies and play

For: A volunteer coach of an under-10 recreational soccer team

You get: A season of practice plans, a fair rotation and a parents’ guide

Time: Fifteen minutes a week

See it in know.sh

The rotation as a heatmap: a row per shirt number, a column per game, darker for more minutes, and a blank for a game missed. Players are numbers only.

Comets U10, fall 2026Positions and rotation

2of 7

Playing time so far, games 1 to 5

Observation, key section, 1 note, 204 words

The rule. The league’s rule 4.3: every player plays at least half of each game, which is two of the four 12-minute quarters. Ours on top of it: nobody sits out two quarters in a row, and third quarters go round.

What it shows. Everyone has played at least half of every game they came to. After three games, No. 9 had not had a third quarter while 4, 7 and 10 had two each; games 4 and 5 put that right. Numbers 8 and 17 have had one third quarter each, and No. 6 missed 19 September.

One session after the coach’s pass in the editor: the parts of the plan, the grid sized for the space, and a line on how it went.

know., Practice plans, 6 · Look up, New, ⋯

Comets U10, fall 2026, Practice plans

6 of 16

Session 6, Thu 24 Sept — Turning away from pressure

Observation, key section, 1 highlight, 1 note, 2 sources, 342 words

Highlight, Note, Edit

Theme. Receiving with a defender behind you, and turning into space.

Warm-up (10 min). 3v3 to pop-up goals as players arrive. No coaching; watch who turns and who passes straight back.

Activity (20 min). Turn and go. A grid 20 × 15 yd (18 × 14 m). A server passes in to an attacker with a passive defender behind; the attacker turns and dribbles over the far line. Defender goes from passive to live after five minutes. Swap roles every three turns.

Small-sided game (20 min). 5v5 on a 40 × 25 yd (37 × 23 m) field with small goals. A goal after a turn counts double.

Cool-down (10 min). Easy passing in pairs, water, and one question: “When could you turn, and when was it better to pass back?”

Equipment. A size 4 ball each, 20 cones, 2 sets of pinnies, 4 pop-up goals, water, first-aid kit.

After. Eleven came. The grid was too small for the live phase; next time 25 yd.

You, 24 September

Numbers 4 and 9 want to turn every time, even with a defender tight. Next session: the pass back is a good choice too.

The parents’ guide on a phone: the coach’s welcome, times and places, and the season’s sections, with nothing about any one child. The league and team are invented.

app.dev.know.sh/share/…, Read only

Parents’ guide — fall 2026

Shared from a library on know. 6 sections.

Hello, I’m Dan, one of the parent volunteers coaching the Comets this fall. The aim is simple: every child touches the ball a lot, plays a lot, and wants to come back in spring.

WhenWhere
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5.30–6.30 pmField 3, Cedar Valley Park
Saturdays, games from 12 September to 31 OctoberSchedule below; arrive 40 minutes early

Message me through the league’s team app. If a practice is cancelled, the league’s website says so first.

Sections

  1. Practice times and the field (Observation, high importance)
  2. Game days, 12 September to 31 October (Observation, high importance)
  3. What to bring: shin guards, a size 4 ball, water (Observation, high importance)
  4. How playing time works (Decision, medium importance)
  5. If your child takes a knock to the head (Decision, high importance)
  6. Weather and lightning (Observation, medium importance)

How it works

You said yes because nobody else would. Your assistant reads the league’s forty-page rulebook and U.S. Soccer’s session plans and drafts a season of practices; you fit them to half a field and twelve nine-year-olds. A heatmap of minutes played keeps the rotation fair, and parents get one page: the schedule and what to bring.

  1. Draft a season of practices

    Give your assistant the league’s rulebook and ask it to research session plans for 9- and 10-year-olds, then file one section per practice: warm-up, activity, small-sided game, cool-down.

  2. Fit each session to your field

    Press Edit and shrink the grids to half a field, swap lines for a ball each, and cut any drill where players head the ball. Mark the sessions that worked Key.

  3. Keep playing time where you can see it

    After each game, give your assistant the quarters by shirt number and ask for a heatmap element: a row per number, a column per game, darker for more minutes.

  4. Share the parents’ guide

    Ask for a Parents’ guide from the schedule and rules, write the welcome yourself, and check it names no child. Press Share and send the link through the league’s team app.

Try this prompt

Your assistant, connected to know.sh (Claude, ChatGPT or a local model):

Using know.sh, read “Practice plans — fall 2026” on my shelf “Comets U10, fall 2026” and draft sessions 9 to 12 as new sections, on passing and playing out from the back. Adapt them from U.S. Soccer grassroots session plans for 7v7 and cite each. Use the same parts as session 6: warm-up, activity, small-sided game, cool-down, equipment. Plan for 12 players, half a field, 60 minutes, no heading.

Your assistant, connected to know.sh (Claude, ChatGPT or a local model):

Using know.sh, read the game sections in “Positions and rotation” on my shelf “Comets U10, fall 2026” and add a heatmap element to “Playing time so far”: a row per shirt number, a column per game, and the minutes each played at 12 minutes a quarter. Leave the cell empty where a number was absent, and list any number with fewer third quarters than the rest.

Made with

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See also