Cat and mouse with cones

A game of tag with four safe spots. As long as you are standing at a cone nothing happens, but the moment the tagger picks your cone you have to go. The interesting part is the moment of leaving: wait too long and you hand the tagger the initiative.

11 players 6 phases ± 10 min 4 cones, the whole court From U11 upwards

Phase 1 of 6Four cones as safe spots; the tagger stands in the middle

All players; the player in the middle is the tagger Equipment Ball

This animation comes straight out of the Koach app. In the app you play it at your own pace and the positions carry your players' real names.

Open in the app

How the drill runs

What you are training

Warm-up tag game: one tagger chases the others, who are safe as long as they are at a cone.

Sprinting from a standstill: the first two steps decide whether you get away.
Deciding under pressure: which cone is free, and when do you go.
Watching the tagger and your teammates at the same time.

Coaching points

Leave before the tagger gets to you, not once he is already there.

Waiting until the last moment feels clever but gives the tagger all the time in the world. Reading what is about to happen is the same skill as leaving before the attacker swings.

A maximum of two players per cone.

Without that rule half the group huddles at one cone and three quarters of your team is standing still. The drill lives off players having to choose.

Keep the first two steps low and short.

You do not accelerate from a standstill with one big stride. Getting away short and low is exactly the start a defender makes toward a short ball.

Change the tagger even when he does not tag anybody.

A tagger who cannot manage it wears himself out and the game grinds to a halt. Someone else after a minute in any case, whatever the score is.

Variations

Easier: Six cones instead of four, and the tagger is only allowed to jog.
Harder: Two taggers, or one cone fewer than the number of small groups so that somebody is always on the move.
With six players: Three cones and one tagger. Whoever gets tagged takes over the role straight away, which keeps the tempo high.
As a game: Every successful switch of cones is a point for the runners, every tag a point for the tagger. Two minutes per tagger and then compare the scores.

Volleyball drills

4 players · 6 phases SafeVolley base round Warm-up 3 players · 5 phases Shoulder activation with band Warm-up 2 players · 6 phases Dynamic movement patterns Warm-up 5 players · 5 phases Core plank with rotation Warm-up

Read on in the knowledge base: games for children aged 8 to 11 · the training load on youth players · what works at each age group