Tag and small-sided finishing games

Organisation

• Players are split into two teams and paired up at a central line.
• There are four coloured cones (two on either side): the coach shows a colour and pairs race to be the first to the colour.
• Vary their starting positions and challenge the player furthest from the cone to tag their partner before he or she reaches it.
• Players score points for being first to the cone or tagging their partner.
• Rotate players so they can challenge themselves against others.

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Move the cones closer to the middle line.

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Move the cones further away from the middle line.
• Require the players to move in different ways.
• Require players to dribble a ball at their feet or carry one in their hands while they race to the cone.

Great questions to ask the children

• Can you react quicker than your opponent when you see the colour?
• Can you move your arms quickly as you accelerate away?
• Can you take short steps as you begin to accelerate?

Safety tips

• Tag on the back, not the head

Organisation

• Organise two teams and a pitch with two goals – each team starts with five balls in the goal net.
• When the coach says "go", players race two at a time to transfer the ball from their own goal to the opponents’ goal as quickly as possible. If they miss the goal, they have to retrieve the ball and put it into the goal before they return back to their own team.
• Players race continually until one team successfully empties all balls from its own net before the other team does.

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Make the pitch shorter.

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Make the pitch longer.

Great questions to ask the children

• What's the best way to travel quickly with the ball – by taking lots of touches or as few touches as possible?

Safety tips

• Waiting players should stand beside the goalposts, not behind the goal

Organisation

• Organise two teams for 5v5 or 6v6 and a pitch with no goalkeepers.
• Each team plays normal football.
• To win the game, every player on a team must score a goal.
• After a player scores, he or she receives a bib from the side to show who has scored.

Ways to make the exercise easier

• Play 3v3 or 4v4.

Ways to make the exercise harder

• Add a goalkeeper to each team – the goalkeeper also has to score.

Great questions to ask the children

• Can you share the goalscoring responsibility?
• Can your team-mates combine to help everybody score a goal?
• Once you have scored, can you try to set up others in your team?
• Can you rotate positions, so that players who need to score play further up the pitch?
• If you are the defending team, should you focus more on the players that still need to score?