Advanced Certificate in Drill Design [MAR]

Live Zoom Course - AEDT (Melbourne Time)
Structured around two x 2-hour live (online) workshops

Workshop 1: Tuesday, 17 March 2026, 10am - 12pm

Workshop 2: Tuesday, 24 March 2026, 10am - 12pm

Enhance your professional development with:

Advanced Certificate in Drill Design

Course Facilitator - Austin Stubbs

This Advanced Certificate provides coaches with practical tools, proactive solutions and effective frameworks to design drills that target skill, strategy, game representativeness and purposeful progression.
Built for the modern game, the course shows coaches how to create learning environments that transfer into performance while using evidence-based research.

Rather than relying on generic patterns or repetitive drills, coaches learn how to manipulate task constraints, including the space, numbers, rules, equipment, scoring and pressure, to shape the decisions players must make in real AFL situations. This education-first approach helps coaches design activities that reflect the realities of ball movement, contest, transition, stoppages and team-defence scenarios. Ensuring every drill has a game-based purpose and strategic clarity using a constraints-led approach.

Throughout the course, participants develop a comprehensive guide to the implications and purpose of each manipulation when designing activities. Coaches also learn how to check for representativeness gaps, ensuring activities remain aligned with the demands of the modern game. Using dynamic visual sequences and graphics, we explore how teams play from different angles, articulating modern strategies with clarity and depth and then applying them into an activity to teach players within true game context.

The course also introduces feedback frameworks such as guided discovery and question-based coaching. Helping coaches refine their communication and shape player understanding more effectively. Coaches learn how to evaluate drills for effectiveness and transfer, ensuring that every activity delivers clear outcomes and accelerates improvement.

By the end, coaches are equipped with a wide range of ways to manipulate and change activities, gain many new drills and develop advanced methods that keep their coaching ahead of the game while enhancing how players learn, adapt and perform.

The course will cover:

• Build game-representative activities
• Manipulate constraints with purpose
• Design strategy-driven activities
• Evaluate transfer and effectiveness
• Coach with guided discovery
• Design purposeful progressions
• Align drills to strategy

NOTE: Our live Zoom workshops are recorded and will be available on the online portal for those unable to attend in real-time. However, we highly recommend joining the live sessions for the best experience. Unlike pre-recorded videos or webinars, these sessions provide real-time interaction with expert facilitators and fellow participants.