Coaching tools › Activities › Playing out of the back
Free activity · Travel curriculum, ages 9–12Beat the First Press
Half a field with a goal. Keeper, two backs and a center mid build against two pressers, with three cone gates on the halfway line. Score by passing or dribbling through a gate; if the pressers win it, they shoot. Every ball starts with the keeper.
Setup
Half a field with a goal. Keeper, two backs and a center mid build against two pressers. Three cone gates sit on the halfway line: left, center, right. Score by passing or dribbling through a gate. If the pressers win it, they shoot. Every ball starts with the keeper.
- Check your shoulder before the ball arrives.
- Backs: split wide, open your body, play what you see.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Pressers walk until the first pass.
- Harder: Three pressers against keeper, two backs and two mids.
Coach’s notes
- If It Stalls: Pressers winning everything? They start at the top of the box and go only when the keeper's first pass is played.
Why it works
This is playing out of the back at the size a ten-year-old can see: a keeper, two backs that split, a center mid that shows, and two pressers who can only ever cover two of the three gates. Somebody is always free.
If the pressers win everything, do not abandon the activity. Start them at the top of the box and let them go only when the keeper’s first pass is played. The builders need to succeed before the press gets real.
Where it sits
This is the Solve block of Week 3 · Session 1 in the Full Season Travel Curriculum for ages 9 to 12 (Weeks 3–4 · Playing Out of the Back). Every session in the book runs the same 90 minutes: rondo, sharpen, solve, play and a set piece, drawn for 7v7 and 9v9, with two coaching points a day and a match-day page for every week.
Run it inside the free U12 practice plan ›
More like this
Ages 11+ · Playing out of the backKeeper and TwoThe simplest build-up picture: a goal, a keeper and two backs on the edge of the box against one presser, with two gates on the far line.
Open the activity ›
Ages 11+ · Playing out of the backDiamond OutKeeper, two backs and a center mid in a diamond against two pressers, with three gates across the far line.
Open the activity ›
Ages 11+ · Playing out of the backBeat the First LineHalf a field. Keeper, two backs and two wide mids build against three pressers, and a striker waits in an end zone past halfway.
Open the activity ›The whole season: 24 sessions, 12 match days, 73 videos
The Full Season Travel Curriculum for ages 9 to 12 is twelve weeks of 7v7 and 9v9 sessions built around six team habits, with a game-day warm-up, match-day pages and an animated video of every activity. Week 1 is free as a sample.