---
title: "Attack Waves"
description: "Three attackers finish one attack, grab a new ball and go straight at the goal in the other half, as often as they can in one minute, while the defenders counter to side goals: shoot now, or make one more pass?"
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/attack-waves
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Attack Waves

> Three attackers finish one attack, grab a new ball and go straight at the goal in the other half, as often as they can in one minute, while the defenders counter to side goals: shoot now, or make one more pass?

U9 to U16 · 10 to 16 players · 22 × 32 m · 15 min

Also called A minute to win it.

![Diagram of Attack Waves](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/attack-waves)

## How to play

1. Set up two pitches side by side, each 22 metres wide and 32 long with a halfway line. On each one: a goal with a keeper at one end, a mini goal at the other, and a mini goal at each end of the halfway line, facing in. Put plenty of balls along the sides.
2. Two teams of eight: a keeper, four defenders and three attackers. A team's keeper and defenders hold one pitch, two defenders in each half; its attackers play on the other pitch. Let the players pick the teams and the roles. With ten, play two attackers against one defender in each half.
3. The attackers go at the big goal against two defenders and the keeper, and play until the attack ends: a goal, the ball out, or the defenders win it.
4. Straight away they take a new ball from the side and attack the mini goal in the other half, against the other two defenders, then back again, for one minute. Defenders stay in their half; a defender who wins the ball scores in either side goal.
5. After the minute, add up each team's goals on both pitches, attackers' and defenders' together. Give the teams a minute to talk about the next round, and change roles every few rounds.

## The decision it trains

The clock changes every choice. A quick shot ends the wave and buys time for another; one more pass makes a better chance but costs seconds. Three against two means one attacker is always free, so the player on the ball decides between going at a defender to draw them and passing to the free one, and where the keeper stands decides the shot. When a wave ends, the next decision is how fast to get a ball and turn. The defenders, two against three, delay rather than dive in and show the attacker wide, and the moment they win the ball a side goal is close, so the counter is worth as much as an attacker's goal. Between rounds, the team decides together who plays where.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** if the attackers rarely score, widen the pitches to 26 metres, so three attackers can stretch two defenders.
- **Too easy:** narrow them to 18 metres, so two defenders can cover three attackers.
- **Next step:** between rounds, each team adds one rule of its own to the game.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When did you shoot early, and when did you make one more pass?"
- "What did your team change between rounds, and did it work?"
- "Defending two against three, how did you slow the attack down?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions as "A minute to win it" (2022), shared by Robbie Pringle, the FA's women's national coach developer. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom): A minute to win it
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany)
- Canada Soccer (Canada)

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