Mystery Ball

Pull a mystery ball from the bag, meet it, swap it, then play with whatever rolls your way.

Warm-up 12 min 8 to 12 players Cage Half pitch Hall 2019 to 2021

Colts Street Football Be brave Lift each other

Everyone dribbles the mystery ball they pulled from the bag; then the square splits into two halves, each with goals facing each other.

Set up

Mark a 20 m by 20 m square with discs.
Put all the balls into the mystery bag.
Put two pop-up goals on each 10 m by 20 m half, facing each other.
Keep bibs ready in two colours for each half.

8 to 12 children in one area of about 20 m by 20 m, split into two 10 m by 20 m halves for the match part.

How to play

Each child pulls a mystery ball from the bag without looking.
They dribble anywhere in the square for 1 minute to meet their ball: how does it roll and bounce?
Coach shouts Mystery swap! and children swap balls with the nearest player.
After 3 swaps, split into two games of 3v3 or 4v4 in each half.
Every 3 minutes the coach rolls in a new mystery ball and takes the old one out.
Children guess out loud which ball is hardest to control.

Keeping everyone moving

Every child has a ball in the first part. In the match part, two games run at the same time.

Make it easier

Use only footballs and foam balls.
Make the halves bigger so each ball has more space.

Make it harder

Add the rugby-shaped ball, which bounces unpredictably.
Goals only count if the team scores within 5 seconds of a ball swap.

Three things to say

Children changing how softly they touch each ball.
Children keeping the ball close.
Children trying new tricks with a strange ball.

Words that work: "Brave, trying the tricky one!", "Great effort to keep it close!", "Nice, you showed your mate how it rolls!"

Colts habit

Children give the ball they found hardest to a teammate with a tip.

Both feet

After each swap, the first three touches must be with the other foot.

Heads up

Children must call a name before they swap.

For your birth year

Pick a birth year to show the tweak for that group. Birth year

2020 to 2021: Only the dribbling and swap part, plus a 2v2 or 3v3 game at the end.
2018 to 2019: Full version with 4v4 games.
2016 to 2017: Use as a 10-minute warm-up with a futsal ball in the mix.

A young leader can run this one, with an adult coach beside them.

Safety: No hard, heavy or overinflated balls, and no beach balls or balloons, which float to head height. Remove any ball that goes above head height from the game.

Keeping score: Each child tells the coach which ball they found hardest today and whether it felt easier than last time.