---
title: "The Storm Rises"
description: "Dribble away from the catchers and keep the safe spots in sight, because when the coach calls the storm there are fewer places than players, and you need to know which spot is free before you run."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/the-storm-rises
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# The Storm Rises

> Dribble away from the catchers and keep the safe spots in sight, because when the coach calls the storm there are fewer places than players, and you need to know which spot is free before you run.

U6 to U10 · 8 to 16 players · 20 × 20 m · 10 min

Also called MUSICAL BALLS, TAG (base), Find an empty cage.

![Diagram of The Storm Rises](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/the-storm-rises)

## How to play

1. Mark a 20 by 20 metre area and put safe spots inside it: squares of four cones about 3 metres a side (hoops or mats work too). Each spot holds two players, and there are always two places fewer than players: five spots for 12 players, seven for 16. With more than 16, set up a second area.
2. Two catchers start without a ball; everyone else dribbles one. A catcher who tags a dribbler with a hand takes the ball and dribbles on, and the player who lost it is now a catcher. Nobody tags straight back the player who has just taken their ball.
3. The spots protect nobody until the call. Whenever the coach shouts "The storm rises!", everyone, catchers included, races for a spot. Dribblers may pick up their ball and run with it.
4. Whoever is left outside is a catcher in the next round and hands their ball to someone who got in without one. Call the storm after 30 seconds to a minute, never at the same moment twice.

## The decision it trains

The dribbler has two things to watch at once: the catchers close by, and the spots. Keeping the ball means looking up, shielding it and turning into space, but the call can come at any second, so a good dribbler also keeps track of where the spots are and never drifts too far from one. When the call comes, the nearest spot may already be full: fight for the last place there, or run for an empty one further away? There is time for one look. The catchers, running without a ball, have the easier race, so their choice comes earlier: chase one more ball, or stay close to a spot in case the storm rises now.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** grow the area to 25 by 25 metres, so the dribblers have room to get away.
- **Too easy:** on the call the ball stays at your feet: you are only safe once your ball is stopped inside the spot. The catchers, with nothing to carry, will get there first more often.
- **Younger players:** learn it with no balls first, as a game of tag with a storm, then add the balls.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When the storm came, how did you know which spot to run to?"
- "Where were you dribbling just before the call, and why there?"
- "Catchers: did you keep chasing, or stay near a spot? What happened?"

## Where it comes from

The Finnish FA, Suomen Palloliitto, documents it as Myrsky nousee ("the storm rises") in the games section (Leikit) of Kaikki Pelissä, its teaching material for schools and daycare. Its safe spots are hoops, circles, mats and platforms, and the game is learned without a ball before the ball comes in. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- Football Association of Finland (Finland): Myrsky nousee
- Ontario Soccer (Canada): Find an empty cage, Bird in the tree
- Royal Belgian FA (Belgium): LA CHAISE MUSICALE
- US Youth Soccer (United States): MUSICAL BALLS, TAG (base)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)

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