How to Digitize Your Coaching Resources
Once you’ve sorted through your coaching binder, the next step is moving your resources into a digital environment.
It can be tempting to simply scan every page or take photos of your binder. But digitizing your coaching resources isn’t just about creating electronic copies of your paperwork.
The goal is to turn your resources into content you can actually find, reuse, and adapt.
1. Start With Your Most-Used Resources
Don’t try to transfer everything at once.
Start with the drills, practice plans, and resources you use most often. This gives you a useful digital library right away while allowing you to gradually transfer older materials.
For example, start with:
- Your top 10 drills
- Your current practice plans
- Your most-used skill activities
- Resources for your current age group
Once those are in place, you can build from there.
2. Don’t Just Photograph the Page
A photo of a paper drill is technically digital, but it doesn’t necessarily make the information easier to use.
When possible, turn your resources into structured digital content.
Instead of uploading a page that says:
Passing Drill
with several paragraphs of instructions, organize the information into sections such as:
Objective: Improve passing accuracy
Skill Level: Intermediate
Duration: 15 minutes
Equipment: Cones and balls
Instructions: Step-by-step activity
Coaching Points: What to watch for
Now the resource is easier to understand and can potentially be reused in different practice plans.
3. Use Tags and Categories
One of the biggest advantages of digital resources is that you don’t have to remember exactly where something is stored.
Use tags or categories to describe your resources.
A single drill might be tagged:
Passing | U15 | Intermediate | Skill Development | 15 minutes
That gives you multiple ways to find it later.
If you need a 15-minute activity for an intermediate U15 session, you can search based on those criteria instead of flipping through pages.
4. Turn Practice Plans Into Reusable Resources
Your practice plans don’t have to remain fixed documents.
Look at each plan and identify the individual activities inside it.
A single practice might include:
Warm-Up → Passing Drill → Skill Development → Small-Sided Game
Each activity can become its own reusable resource.
That means you can take the same passing drill and use it in several different practice sessions without recreating it from scratch.
5. Adapt Resources for Different Skill Levels
A good activity may work for beginners, intermediate athletes, and advanced players—but the activity may need to change.
Your digital resources can include variations.
For example:
Beginner: Reduce the distance and simplify the movement.
Intermediate: Add movement and decision-making.
Advanced: Add defenders, speed, or additional constraints.
Instead of maintaining multiple paper copies, you can build variations into your digital resource and adapt it when needed.
6. Build Your Digital Library Gradually
Don’t worry about having a perfect digital library on day one.
Think of it as a collection that grows over time.
Every time you create a new drill, improve a practice plan, or discover a useful activity, add it to your library.
Eventually, you’ll have something much more valuable than a digital copy of your binder: a collection of coaching resources that can be searched, adapted, and reused.
7. Make Your Resources Work Harder
The real benefit of digitizing your coaching resources isn’t simply having fewer papers to carry.
It’s being able to find the right resource when you need it, adapt it for your athletes, and use it again in a different situation.
Once your drills and practice plans are organized digitally, you can start building complete training sessions from those reusable resources.
Next in the series: Beyond the Binder: Building a Digital Coaching System
