Find your role on the pitch

Organisation

• Organise separate working areas, with agility courses at one end and a playing area at the other
• Split your group into two – half do the agility exercises and half compete 2v2
• The players doing the agility tasks take turns to complete the courses that you have set up and rotate between them
• The other half work in pairs to score by passing through mobile goals
• The mobile goals can be two players holding a stick, a skipping rope or two bibs tied together, etc.
• After a few minutes, swap the players over

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Require the players who serve as the mobile goals to walk to begin with – i.e. they cannot run away
• Make the mobile goals bigger

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Challenge the players to race each other through the agility tasks
• Make the mobile goals smaller, or require goals to be scored with a first-time pass

Great questions to ask the players

• Can you challenge yourselves to move as quickly as possible?
• Can you keep your heads up as you chase the mobile goals?

Safety tips

• Make sure that the agility courses are spaced out, so there are no collisions
• Passes through the mobile goals should be played along the floor

Organisation

• Make mini-pitches for 2v1 and 2v2, with one goal per pitch; for 2v1, the two members of a pair should take turns to play alone, while the other one waits off the pitch
• The two attacking players start with the ball and try to score
• Rotate the players, so they all get to attack, defend and play in goal
• Each team has five balls and sees how many goals it can score from five attempts, to make a competition

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Use bigger goals

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Use smaller goals
• Limit the number of touches that the attacking players can have

Great questions to ask the players

• Can you combine and shoot as soon as possible?
• Can you follow up any shots in case of rebounds?
• Can you experiment with different types of shots?

Safety tips

• Waiting players should stand away from the goals

Organisation

• Organise two equal teams of 8v8, including goalkeepers
• Normal rules, but let the players decide how to restart the game (e.g. kick-ins instead of throw-ins)
• Ask the players to make their own team formation, or start them in a 3-3-1 (plus the goalkeeper) and give them the chance to adjust their shape after a few minutes
• If you have several teams, rotate every few minutes or make multiple pitches
• Try to use large goals if possible
• If you have an odd number of players, it’s fine to play with uneven teams or one player can be a floater and play for both teams

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Give one team more players

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Teams have to play through each third of the pitch (i.e. a defender, midfielder and attacker has to touch the ball) before they can score
• Give one team fewer players

Great questions to ask the players

• Can you discuss and agree on a formation as a team?
• Can you try to spread out as a team when you have the ball?
• In which areas of the pitch can you take risks on the ball?
• How did you work as a team to agree your formation?

Safety tips

• Create a safe space to play, as well as safe zones between pitches where relevant