Which ball is best?

Players will develop their understanding of:

• staying on the ball under pressure
• working as a team to make the most of an overload
• using different movements to:
  • be skilful
  • create space
  • create scoring opportunities.

Want to try this with your team? Download the session plan to your device and give it a go.

Set up an area that’s appropriate for your players to take part in a small-sided game. In this instance it’s a 4v4, but it can be adapted to your numbers.

Place a goal at each end and space out a variety of balls along each touchline. You could have a mixture of footballs, rugby balls and netballs. It’s up to you.

Start by playing a normal game – with both teams attacking and defending a goal. Award a point each time a goal is scored.

Here’s where the first twist comes into play. Each time the ball goes out, the player that last touched it must go and get it. While they do this, the other team can grab one of the other balls and restart the game. Encourage them to do this quickly to take advantage of the overload they have on the other team.

The player retrieving the ball has to place it where the other ball – which the players are now using – came from. They can then rejoin the game and even up the numbers.

Here’s the second twist: the balls on the touchline can be swapped for different sports balls, like a rugby ball for instance. As seen in the video, if a player chooses the rugby ball, the teams must adopt the rules of touch-rugby while it’s in play. Examples include only passing backwards and scoring by placing the ball on, or over, the goal line.

To progress this session, think about the STEP framework. To make the game a bit easier, increase the size of the area. This provides more space for players to exploit when they have an overload, and more thinking time. Although the tradeoff is that they’ll have to cover bigger distances.

Alternatively, you could make it more challenging by altering the equipment available to the players. Introduce even more sports balls, such as netballs and basketballs, and adopt the rules of those sports when they’re in play. To score in both of those instances, players could throw the ball against the crossbar.

However you decide to progress the game, keep it fun, highly engaging and appropriate for your players.

If you use this session with your team, let us know how you get on by posting in The FA Community forums.