---
title: "Three-Ball Hunt"
description: "Two teams, three balls, no goals: a team scores the moment it has all three at once, so every player keeps deciding whether to protect a ball or go and win the last one."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/three-ball-hunt
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Three-Ball Hunt

> Two teams, three balls, no goals: a team scores the moment it has all three at once, so every player keeps deciding whether to protect a ball or go and win the last one.

U8 to U10 · 8 to 12 players · 20 × 25 m · 12 min

![Diagram of Three-Ball Hunt](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/three-ball-hunt)

## How to play

1. Mark an area 20 metres wide and 25 long. Two teams of 4 to 6 in two colours, and three balls. With more players, set up two areas side by side.
2. There are no goals. A team has a ball when one of its players has it at their feet, and each player can keep only one ball at a time. Pass, dribble and tackle as in a match.
3. The moment one team has all three balls at once, the coach shouts "Freeze!" and that team scores a point.
4. The team that scored rolls two of the balls to the other team, and play goes straight on.
5. A ball that leaves the area goes to the other team, who dribble it back in from where it went out. Play blocks of 3 to 4 minutes with a short break between them.

## The decision it trains

With three balls, a team is never only attacking or only defending. With one ball you are hunting two; with two you are protecting two and hunting the last one. The players without a ball decide whether to go after that last ball or stay close to a teammate under pressure, so there is a pass to give. The player on the ball chooses between shielding, dribbling away into space and passing to a free teammate, and because pressure can come from any side, they have to look around before it arrives. The team that is short decides which carrier to go for: the one with their head down, the one stuck near the line, and often two players on one ball rather than one on each.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** if no team ever holds all three, start with two balls and add the third once both teams have scored.
- **Too easy:** if a team scores every minute, shrink the area to 15 by 20 metres, or a point only counts once the team keeps all three while the coach counts to three.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When your team had two balls, what were the players without a ball doing?"
- "How did you decide which ball to go and win?"
- "When someone came for your ball, what could you do?"

## Where it comes from

US Youth Soccer documents it in its U-10 Practice Activities book (2013), as the fourth warm-up of a session on heading. It has no name there: two teams, three balls, and a point whenever one team has all three at the same time. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- US Youth Soccer (United States)

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