Shark attack!

WHY USE IT

This practice can improve dribbling, scanning and shielding, as well as the ABCs - agility, balance and co-ordination. It can also develop players’ confidence in dribbling with different surfaces of their feet.

Set-up

Set up four or five circles of cones around the area, large enough to fit a few players in. Try to make each circle a different colour if possible. All except one or two players will need a ball each, those others will need a bib each. Have some spare bibs ready at the side.

HOW TO DO IT

Players with a ball are ‘swimmers’. Pick one or two players to wear a bib and be ‘sharks’. The circles of cones are ‘islands’. Sharks are not allowed onto the islands. 

Sharks must attempt to tackle the swimmers, who can dribble onto an island for safety. The swimmers can stay there for 10 seconds before having to go back into the water.

Swimmers must visit different islands - if you’ve just left the yellow island, you must go to another colour before being allowed to return to the yellow island.

If their ball gets stolen by a shark, the swimmer must grab a bib and become a shark. The last swimmer left with their ball has survived the ‘shark attack’ and will start the next round as the shark.

ADAPTATIONS

Make the islands smaller or bigger to increase or decrease the difficulty. Change the amount of time players can stay on an island for if they need more rest. 

Play without balls, as a game of tag. Add goals in – when sharks steal a ball they can score in a goal; if they miss, the swimmer can get their ball back and carry on swimming.

COACHING POINTS

• Discuss what players will have to use their eyes for – scanning for islands, clear water to swim into, and sharks to swim away from.
• Encourage them to use little touches to try and keep their ball close and allow them to twist and turn away from the shark.
• Demonstrate shielding – place your body between your ball and the shark, put your foot on top of the ball so you can move it away from the shark, use your arm to feel for where the shark is and also where there might be space to turn into.