Organisation

Diagram 1. Set-Up Arrangement

Set-Up

• Using a 30x30yrd grid arrange place one team inside the grid and have one team outside the grid. Equal teams are needed, and variations could include 5vs5, or 7vs7, etc. The defending players are numbered from 1-6.

Instructions

• The attacking team aims to maintain possession of the ball and keep the ball away from the defenders for as long as possible.
• The defending team has no players in the grid to start.
• At 10 second intervals the coach shouts out a number and the defender with that number enters the grid (sprints in) to attempt to help regain possession or simply play the football out the playing area. Joining any other defenders already in the grid.
• The coach continues this pattern and the difficulty of the possession exercise gradually increases as more defends enter. Once the ball is played out the roles are reversed.
• D1 enters the grid when the coach calls out 1, and he pressures the football.
• After 10 seconds of D1 defending on his/her own, the coach calls out 2 and D2 enters to help D1.
• D3 then enters (sprints in) when the coach calls out 3. An so on.

Scoring

• The teams count how many successful passes they make before the ball is played out by the defenders.
• OR the attacking team can be timed on how long they keep possession before the ball is played out.