---
title: "The Escape"
description: "A teammate lobs the ball into a small square and two players fight for it: read the flight, win the landing spot, then get out with the ball."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/the-escape
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# The Escape

> A teammate lobs the ball into a small square and two players fight for it: read the flight, win the landing spot, then get out with the ball.

U6 to U9 · 3 to 3 players · 5 × 5 m · 10 min

Also called La fuga.

![Diagram of The Escape](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/the-escape)

## How to play

1. Mark squares 5 metres by 5 metres, a few metres apart. Groups of three: two players inside the square, one server outside with the ball.
2. The server throws or kicks the ball high into the square, and the two players inside compete to bring it under control.
3. Whoever controls it then tries to escape: dribble out over any side of the square before the other player wins the ball back. An escape is a point.
4. The player who escaped becomes the server and the server goes in. If nobody escapes, the server throws again. Every group plays at once.

## The decision it trains

Before anyone touches the ball, both players read the flight: where will it land, can I get there first, or should I go for it in the air? The one who wins the spot has to take the first touch away from the opponent and towards the side they plan to leave by. The other decides whether to block that exit or go straight for the ball. The server decides where to throw, and how high.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** let the ball bounce once before either player may touch it.
- **Too easy:** three players in the square at once, each playing for themselves, a variant found in the original sheet.
- **Younger players:** bringing the ball under control inside the square is the point; no escape needed.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When did you know where the ball would land?"
- "Which way did your first touch take the ball, and why that way?"
- "When you were the server, how did you choose where to throw?"

## Where it comes from

La fuga ("the escape") comes from the Italian federation's youth sector: it is in the exercise book of its Programma di Sviluppo Territoriale, published in 2018, for U8 and U9 with a version for younger children. In the original, winning control of the ball scores, and variants ask the winner to leave the square or pass back. No other source with the same rules has been found.

## Documented by

- Italian FA (FIGC) (Italy): La fuga
- US Youth Soccer (United States)

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