Does anyone know of any coaching software for soccer coaches? Things I'd be interested in are help in laying out and designing practice sessions. I do mine in Word on a table format with written descriptions, time allocated, coaching points,etc., and I drop in a diagram of the exercise which I create in Paint Shop Pro, but I wonder if there's a more integrated program, with easier design capabilities. I could just live with pencil and paper if I had to, but I want my assistants to have the sessions (and be able to understand them) in advance, and saving the good designs without having to redraw them would also be nice. I suppose an integrated program that also kept track of other information would be helpful (database of players and their personal, medical and training information; attendance at practices and games, etc.). Excel, Word and the software of my team's website can handle most everything I need - but there's probably a better way to keep them all bundled and linked in a single program. Any thoughts?
I don't know of any program designed to specifically do this, but I think you are describing a database program. The database could have several tables to track various information: player info, drills, practice layouts, general comments and then have reports for running a practice, etc. Now in order to have everything you want, you need to either build it or have someone build it for you. I've developed a number of databases using MS Access. It can be a complicated program, but it does have some built-in tools to help a new user. I would recommend picking up a copy and trying to create a database that fills your needs. One thing to keep in mind, you will likely not know all of your needs until you create and start using the database. This will be based on not fully knowing everything that you can do until you start creating it. Do not be afraid to scrap your initial couple of attemps and start over. That will help you to have a better final product. Good luck and feel free to contact me if you'd like some advice on the process.
I was going to recommend the second site to you, as well Norsk. It is a fee site (you can sign up for month free) but they have a very nice feature called Coach's Chalkboard which will allow you to draw up and print all the games/drills/exercises you want, and keep them organized by the date you use them. In the interest of disclosure, I am the administrator for the forums there, but I found the product quite helpful before I came on board.