Through the Gates

1. Mark a pitch about 30 metres long and 20 wide. In each corner, about 3 metres in from both lines, put a gate of two cones 2 metres apart.
2. Four against four, no goalkeepers. Each team attacks the two gates at the far end and defends its own two.
3. A team scores by dribbling the ball through one of the other team's gates, from either side. Nobody may stand in a gate to block it.
4. After a goal, the team that conceded starts again from its own end line.
5. Play games of five minutes, then change teams. With twelve or more players, run a second pitch.

Two gates to attack, far apart, means the player on the ball keeps asking one question: which gate is free, and can I get there before a defender does? Dribbling at a guarded gate pulls defenders across; a pass to a teammate near the other gate then opens it. Without the ball, players spread towards both gates so that pass exists. Defending, the team has to decide who goes to the ball and who protects the far gate.