Playbook
The grassroots coaching playbook.
Practical guides for volunteer grassroots coaches — written from real touchlines, short enough to read before training starts.
Who this is for
Written for the coach who's planning training at 5pm because it starts at 6.30
Each guide is short enough to read in one sitting and built to be used that same week — session plans, match-day templates, the awkward parent conversation, and the admin that eats your Sundays.
Written by the people building Trac. Most of us coach, so the advice comes from real touchlines and a real season — not theory.
A Parent Welcome Email for Your Grassroots Team (Steal This)
A copy-and-paste welcome email for parents at the start of your grassroots football season, plus the details coaches always forget to add.
Read the guideA Grassroots Football Pre-Season Checklist for Coaches
The jobs I do in June and July so August is calm. A plain pre-season checklist for grassroots coaches, learned the hard way with my own team.
Read the guideWhat to Look For When Coaching Under 10s Football
Under 10 is the year a grassroots team quietly grows up. Here is what I actually watch for on a Sunday now, and what I have stopped worrying about.
Read the guideHow to Write a Grassroots Football Match Report
A simple, repeatable way to write a match report parents will actually read, plus the bits that matter most at youth level and how to get it done before Sunday lunch.
Read the guideFootball Coach Software: What a Grassroots Coach Actually Needs
Most football coach software is built for clubs and academies. Here's what actually matters when you're one volunteer running an under-10s side on a Sunday.
Read the guideAn AI match report example: what you put in and what comes back
A real AI match report example from a grassroots under-10s game: the rough notes a coach jotted on the touchline and the report Trac produced from them.
Read the guideWhat makes a grassroots football training app actually useful
A coach-to-coach look at what a grassroots football training app should do: plan the session, sort availability, keep a record, and skip the pro-level noise.
Read the guideWhat a Grassroots Football Club Management App Actually Needs to Do
A grassroots coach's honest take on what a club management app should actually do, the features that save you real time, and the ones you can ignore.
Read the guideAI for grassroots football coaches: where it helps and where it doesn't
AI won't coach your team, but it can take the admin off your plate. A straight, coach-to-coach look at where AI helps grassroots football and where it doesn't.
Read the guideA World Cup summer, and the format changes coming next season
End of week round-up: clubs opening their doors for the World Cup, why next season's format changes are a summer job, and the pieces we put up this week.
Read the guideHow to import your FA Full-Time fixtures (instead of typing them all in)
Stop retyping thirty fixtures by hand every August. Here is how to import your FA Full-Time fixtures into a team app, what to check afterwards, and how to handle the games that inevitably move.
Read the guideA football team app with no subscription
Tired of renewing yet another app every August? Here is what "no subscription" really means for a grassroots team, how Trac's one-time pricing works, and an honest look at the free alternatives.
Read the guide
Who writes the playbook
Written by a coach, mid-season
Written by Adam Jackson, a grassroots manager in East Yorkshire and the coach who built Trac. Most pieces draw directly from his team's full 2025-26 BETA season on Trac, Springhead U12 Spartans. The data. The decisions. The mistakes. The promotion. Drafted on Sunday evenings after the kids are in bed.
Try Trac while you're here.
The playbook is free for everyone. The app is free to run a season. Pay once for premium (AI match reports + analytics).