Chose about one in four players to be chasers (the “spooks”). Give each spook a ball.
The spooks turn the rest of the players to “stone” by touching them with the ball on the chest or back. They cannot throw the ball and must hold it in two hands.
If turned to stone, the player stands with their legs wide apart. They can be freed by another player crawling through their legs, though this makes them vulnerable to the spooks.
Set Up
Area: 40m x 30m or small gym/games hall. Equipment: 1 ball per 4 players, bibs (if available). Players: Up to a class or squad size.
Scoring
1 point for each player turned to stone, with a 5 point bonus if all of them are turned to stone.
What to Call Out
“Look for space and move into it”
“Take short steps when changing direction”
“Keep your head up to see what’s going on”
“Use fast feet”
Coaching Tips
“Fast feet” refers to the speed of movement of the player in confined areas. Acquiring the skill will allow the ball carrier to manoeuvre away from defenders, defenders to get into better positions to make tackles. Jason Robinson (England) and Shane Williams (Wales) are typically regarded as players with fast feet.
The spooks want to turn the other players to stone.
Players turned to stone must stand still with their legs wide apart.
They can be freed by another player crawling through their legs.
Use a game of “Colours” to challenge the awareness and communication skills of your players. The game revolves around different coloured try lines (and eventually balls), either the players or coach can call the change of colour, which then changes the direction of the attack. The challenge: All the players must react to the change in direction of the pitch, being aware of which try line is where, where their players are aligned, which way they are now attacking and defending, and communicating to support a faster, more effective transition. MORE
Use this game-exercise-game activity to develop passing skills for all ages of players. You control the intensity to suit the skills of the players. They have to inject the energy. Use a game to motivate the players to improve their passing, then develop it in an exercise before returning to the game. MORE
Try this fun game to help players work on defensive organisation. By forming a physical defence chain, players work together to stop attackers from scoring. This game also helps attackers identify gaps on the wings and learn to execute opportunities. It develops an idea from Andrew Drayton who coaches Credition girls, Devon. MORE
Here are two versions of the same game. In each one, it is a basic 2 v 1, but the angles of attack and defence keep changing depending on the target. It really challenges the role of the support player to put themselves in a good position to give the ball carrier options. MORE
Improve your players’ understanding of their roles to make sure you can retrieve kicks and attack space when in possession. Play with your Terms and Conditions, not the kicking teams’. When a team kicks into space, the defending team needs to communicate and fan out so it can run back at spaces. MORE
Rugby is missing real competition. Whilst we can see how competition can sometimes hinder development, especially when coaches only prioritise work in sessions to achieve this goal, it must be said that without it lurking in the background, sessions feel a bit detached. MORE
