---
title: "Clear Your Half"
description: "Two teams kick a pile of balls into each other's half nonstop, and whoever has fewer when the coach calls stop wins the round: pick which ball to deal with and the empty space to send it to."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/clear-your-half
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Clear Your Half

> Two teams kick a pile of balls into each other's half nonstop, and whoever has fewer when the coach calls stop wins the round: pick which ball to deal with and the empty space to send it to.

U4 to U6 · 4 to 12 players · 15 × 20 m · 8 min

Also called Junkyard Soccer, Tidy Up Your Room, Stadium game.

![Diagram of Clear Your Half](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/clear-your-half)

## How to play

1. Mark an area 15 metres wide and 20 long with a halfway line of cones. Two teams, one in each half. Spread plenty of balls, at least one per child, evenly across both halves.
2. On "Go!", kick the balls into the other half. Feet only, and everyone stays in their own half.
3. The balls keep coming back, so keep going: stop one, kick it over again.
4. If a ball rolls out of the area, whoever is nearest fetches it and plays on.
5. On "Stop!", everyone freezes and you count: the half with fewer balls wins the round. Play rounds of about a minute, swap halves and go again.

## The decision it trains

There are balls everywhere and only so many feet, so every child keeps choosing: which ball first, the one at my feet or the one rolling in? Kick it straight away, or stop it and aim? And where to? A ball kicked at an opponent comes straight back; a ball sent into an empty corner stays there a while. That is the first lesson in looking up before you kick. Teammates start to spread out on their own, because when everyone chases the same ball the rest of the half fills up. Nobody knows when "Stop!" will come, so every ball counts all the time.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** throw or roll the balls over with the hands first, then play the same game with feet.
- **Too easy:** put two hoops in each half. A ball that stops inside a hoop counts as three balls for the team in that half.
- **Next step:** dribble the balls over instead of kicking them: carry one across the halfway line, leave it in the other half and run back for the next, while the other team does the same.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "Where did you kick the ball so it stayed over there?"
- "Which ball did you go for first, and why that one?"
- "How did your team share out the balls?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions as "Stadium game" (2023), one of its Play Phase games for 4 to 6 year olds. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom): Stadium game
- Canada Soccer (Canada)
- US Youth Soccer (United States): Junkyard Soccer, Clean up the yard, Fill the Bank, Clean the yard
- Swedish FA (Sweden)
- Football Australia (Australia): Pass, Pass, Pass
- Ontario Soccer (Canada): Tidy Up Your Room, Clean your room
- ONFI, Uruguay's children's football body (Uruguay): Limpiar la casa
- CONMEBOL (International): Mantenga el área libre

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