Growing Numbers

1. Mark a pitch 15 metres wide and 20 long with two mini goals at each end, one in each corner. Put a few spare balls beside each team's goals. Two teams of three; each team agrees an order, first, second and third, and stands between its own goals.
2. The two first players play 1v1, each attacking the two goals at the far end. The coach plays the first ball in.
3. After a goal or an out ball, the two second players run on and it is 2v2. The team that scored, or that did not put the ball out, restarts straight away: its new player dribbles in a spare ball from beside its own goals.
4. After the next goal or out ball, the third players come on: 3v3. Stay at 3v3 for three goals or out balls, then everyone goes back to their goals and you start again at 1v1, in a new order so someone else opens.
5. Keep teams to three, so nobody stands out for more than a duel or two, or to four on a pitch 20 by 25 metres that climbs to 4v4. With more players, set up a second pitch alongside.

Every goal changes the problem. In the 1v1 there is nobody to pass to: take the defender on, and pick the goal they are not covering. In the 2v2 the player on the ball suddenly has a choice, go alone or pass, and a defender left on their own has to slow the attack down until a teammate arrives. The players coming on decide before they set foot on the pitch: watching from beside their goals, they see who will have the ball and where the space is, then run either into a gap where they can receive or back between the ball and their goals. Because the team that scored restarts at once with a fresh player and a new ball, the team that conceded has seconds to sort out who goes to the ball and who covers. At 3v3, two goals at each end make the defenders choose which side to protect, and moving the ball to the far goal becomes the weapon.