Defending for U10s

Age group: U10

Equipment

1 ball per player, cones, pennies

Link Tag – Create pairs of players and have them link arms, break one of the pairs apart and give one of them a penny, the player with the penny is it and will chase the other player until they link up with one of the pairs, the player on the other side of the link must now leave the link and run

Pac Man – 15 minutes, 20×30 yards, two players without the ball are ghosts, the ghosts object is to get as many balls out of the grid as possible in two minutes, if a player has their ball kicked out of the grid they retrieve their ball and re-enter the grid

Praise the players that work together to trap a player and take the ball away

Team Knockout – 15 minutes, 20×30 yards, half the players with balls, the other half need to be around the outside of the grid, the players outside the grid will come into the grid and work together to steal balls away from the dribblers and dribble the outside of the grid, once a player loses their ball they can help their team mates out by passing with them, time the team that started with out with the ball on how long it takes to get the ball out of the grid

End Zone – 20 minutes, two 20×30 yard grids, create two games of 3v3 or 4v4, players score by dribbling over the endline with the ball

Scrimmage – 15-20 mintues, two 20×30 yard grids, create small goals on either endline and allow the players to play without any coaching