Warm-up: Fun relay skills races
Organisation
- Organise your class into small teams of 5 players and make up challenges to hit the net !
- Players can be in lines and you can choose different ways for the players to hit the net
- Be creative, adapt to players abilities and make it a race to keep it fun and exciting – Remember young children love to be challenged!
- Players might throw it, kick it from the floor, volley it, into empty nets or nets protected by goalkeepers – first teams to score a number of goals wins – If only one ball per team, then players retrieve ball and pass it on
Ways to make the exercise easier
- Keep the challenges simple, throw the ball from shorter distances in two hands, one hand or from above your head
Ways to make the exercise harder
- Increase the distance of the shots / throws
- Add goalkeepers or blockers from other teams
- One whole team could each take a turn in goal, and team who concedes the least are the winners
Great questions to ask the children
- Can you support and cheer each other when you score goals?
- Can you take great care to not miss the goal when you shoot?
- Can you race the other teams and make lots of noise when you finish?
Safety Points
- Create safety zones between teams so no collisions
Skill development: 3v3 Mini Matches
Organisation
- Organise a pitch with 4 goals, 3 teams in 3 colours who wait outside the pitch - spread around 3 sides. When the coach calls 2 colours - 3players from each team runs onto the pitch and tries to score in any one of the 4 goals. Once a goal is scored, players leave the pitch and wait for next colours to be called. Players in each team continually rotate.
- Teams can have odd numbers on the outside as only 3 will play at a time
Ways to make the exercise easier
- Use bigger goals
- Coach could throw two balls onto the pitch
Ways to make the exercise harder
- Add goalkeepers to each goal or moving goalkeepers who try and cover 2 goals
Great questions to ask the children
- Can your team be first to the ball?
- Can you take an early shot before the other team is ready to defend?
- If your team has to defend, can you block the goals and wait for the right moment to pinch the ball?
Safety Points
- Only call new teams onto the pitch when the pitch is clear
- Create a safe space to play
Game application: Small-sided game with game-related outcomes
Organisation
- Organise 2 teams onto a pitch with 2 end zones, - play 5 v 5 in middle zone and in each end zone each team has a target player who must be passed to in order to score a point. The object of the game is to get the ball from one end to the other to score a point
- Combine as a team to get the ball to the target player - when the target players receive the ball they can then swap with the outfield player who passed it to them so that the target players continually rotate
- To win the game, score a number of points, or make a rule that every player must play as the target player before you can win, meaning that every outfield player has to make a point scoring pass to the target to win.
Ways to make the exercise easier
- You can start with throw and catch and each team has a ball each - make a race for every player to have a go in the end zone to win.
Ways to make the exercise harder
- Only one ball between the 2 teams
- Teams have to get to target player and back again to score a point
- Teams can only pass the ball by feet
Great questions to ask the children
- Can you recognise opportunities to make an early pass to the target player?
- Can you find ways to reach the target player with a clever pass?
- Can the target player move into spaces to make yourself more available?
Safety Points
- Create safe zones between pitches