If you coach grassroots football, you already know the reality. You're a volunteer. You work a full-time job, then turn up twice a week to run training sessions and manage matchdays for a group of kids who'd rather be on their phones. You do it because you love it, not because you're paid for it.
So when someone tries to sell you a coaching app with GPS tracking, heat maps, and performance analytics, you're right to roll your eyes. That's not what grassroots coaching looks like. Here's what coaches at this level actually need — and why most apps get it wrong.
The coaching app market is dominated by tools built for professional or semi-professional setups. They're designed for clubs with full-time coaching staff, sports scientists, and budgets for player tracking technology. Then they slap a cheaper price tier on it and call it "suitable for all levels."
But stripping features out of a pro tool doesn't make it right for grassroots. The whole approach is wrong. Grassroots coaches don't need a watered-down version of what Chelsea uses. They need a completely different tool — one designed from the ground up for how volunteer coaches actually work.
Here's what that looks like.
The number one thing grassroots coaches need is a way to plan sessions quickly. Not a 45-minute exercise in dragging cones around a virtual pitch. Not a tool that requires a coaching licence to understand. Just a fast, simple way to put together a training plan for Tuesday night.
Most coaches plan sessions on the back of an envelope, in a notes app, or not at all. They turn up and wing it. That's not because they don't care — it's because the barrier to planning properly is too high. A good coaching app should lower that barrier, not raise it.
What coaches want is a library of age-appropriate drills they can browse, pick from, and slot into a session plan in a few minutes. Warm-up, main activity, cool-down. Done. Ready for Tuesday.
An under-8s session looks nothing like an under-16s session. The FA's own coaching framework makes this clear: younger age groups focus on fun, basic movement, and small-sided games. Older groups introduce more tactical work, position-specific training, and competitive structures.
Most coaching apps treat "football coaching" as one thing. They give you a giant library of drills with no filtering by age group, ability level, or session objective. A volunteer coach shouldn't have to wade through pressing triggers and transition play to find a fun dribbling game for 7-year-olds.
Good grassroots coaching tools organise everything by age group and development stage. You pick your team's age, and you see drills that are right for them. Simple.
Training sessions happen on council pitches with no WiFi. Coaches check their session plan on their phone while the kids are doing their warm-up lap. If your coaching app needs a strong internet connection and a laptop, it's useless where it matters most.
A grassroots coaching app needs to work on a phone, load quickly, and function offline. That's non-negotiable.
This might be the most important point. Grassroots coaches are volunteers. Many of them spend their own money on cones, bibs, and balls. Asking them to pay fifteen or twenty pounds a month for a coaching app is tone-deaf.
The best grassroots tools are either free or have a very low price point. If there's a premium tier, it should offer genuine extras — not basic functionality locked behind a paywall. Session planning should be free. Full stop.
Let's be clear about what's unnecessary at grassroots level:
These features aren't bad — they're just irrelevant to the grassroots game. Including them adds complexity, raises the price, and makes the app harder to use for the people who need it most.
This is exactly why we built Pitch Side. It's a free coaching companion designed specifically for grassroots football coaches — the volunteers, the parent-coaches, the people who give up their evenings and weekends to help kids play football.
Pitch Side gives you quick session planning with age-appropriate drills, works on your phone, and doesn't cost a penny. No GPS tracking. No heat maps. No subscription fees. Just the tools you actually need to run a better training session.
Because grassroots coaches deserve software built for grassroots coaching — not a dumbed-down version of something designed for a completely different world.
Coach grassroots football?
Try Pitch Side for free — it's built for you.
Related reading: Pitch Side: A Free Coaching Companion for Grassroots Football · Pitch Side.