Natural sidesteppers

Create a competition to get to the line, with the attacker either using speed or evasive skills to beat a defender coming from a different angle.

This easy to set up activity can be run as a breakout from games or as a large group in lots of boxes. Mix up the players so sometimes they are evenly matched and other times, there’s a bit of mismatch in favour of the defender.

ACTIVITY 1

1. Put a defender on cone A, B or C and an attacker on cone D, E or F.
2. When you say “GO” the attacker has to run over to the opposite line without being touched.

ACTIVITY 2

1. Have an attacker and defender walk/ run to and fro between their outside cones (A to C, D to F as for activity 1).

1. Then shout “GO” and the attacker aims to do as he did before.
2. Why not introduce full tackling? This is a good session ender, with prizes for winners, or forfeits for losers, like collecting up the cones.

TECHNIQUE

• Keep light on your feet.
• Attack hard one way, then step the other and attack that way.
• For the youngest players, keep the ball in two hands so there is no chance of a handoff.