Coaching tools › Activities › Switching the play
Free activities · By topicSwitching the play drills
5 free, with video
A team that can move the ball from one side to the other faster than the other team can run will always find space. These drills teach the switch: when to play it, how to receive it, and what to do the moment it lands.
What it means
Switching the play means moving the ball from the side where the defense is crowded to the side where it is not. It works because a defense can only slide so fast. If the ball gets across first, the far-side player has time and room to go forward.
The habit behind it is Get Big: stretch the field when you have the ball. A switch needs a player waiting wide on the far side, and that is the hard part for young players, who want to go to the ball. Staying wide feels like doing nothing, right up until the ball arrives.
What to coach
- Play one way to make them shift, then switch.
- Switch early, not late.
- Far-side player: stay wide and stay patient. The switch is coming.
- After the switch, go at once: the space closes fast.
The ladder
Every theme in 100 Possession Activities climbs the same way. Rungs 1 to 3 are rondos for the start of a session. Rungs 4 to 7 are the middle: direction, goals, decisions. Rungs 8 to 10 are games with one rule. These are free:
Rung 1 · 4v2Two-Side RondoA long, narrow rondo. Two attackers on each short end of a 16x8, two defenders inside.
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Rung 2 · 6v3Switch Through the MiddleTwo attackers on each side line of a 20x14, two in the middle, three defenders.
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Rung 3 · 4v4+2Switch and ScoreTwo goals to attack, and a goal after a switch counts double.
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Rung 4 · 5v5+2Wide TargetsScore by finding one wide target, then the other.
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Rung 5 · 7v6Switch in the PhaseSeven against six, and a switch after halfway doubles the goal.
Open the activity ›Rungs 6 to 10 are in the book
- 6Long and Short6v4 · 10 players
- 7Switch the Keeper7v7 · 16 players
- 8Four Goals6v6 · 12 players
- 9Switch to Finish8v7+GK · 16 players
- 10Switch Game9v9 · 18 players
Build a session from it
One idea, start to finish. Change the topic next week and keep the rondo.
- Start, 10 min: Two-Side Rondo
- Middle, 20 min: Wide Targets
- Middle, 20 min: Switch in the Phase
- Finish, 25 min or more: Play your normal game with one rule: a goal counts double if the ball changed sides in the last three passes.
Keep going
Questions about switching the play
How do you teach switching the play?
In three steps. First the idea in a small space: Two-Side Rondo is short, short, long. Then a reason to do it: Switch and Score gives players two goals to attack, so the open one is always the far one. Then a real shape, with Switch in the Phase.
At what age can a team switch the play?
9v9 is where it starts to pay off, because there is finally enough field. Younger players can still learn the idea in Two-Side Rondo. The U11 Switch the Play plan is a full session for that age.
Why doesn’t my team ever switch?
Usually nobody is on the far side, or the player on the ball looks up too late. Fix the far side first. Players have to stay wide while the ball is away from them, and they need to hear that this is their job.
Or pick by number of players
Rungs 6 to 10 of this ladder are in the book
100 Possession Activities has all ten rungs of every theme, right up to the full game that keeps the idea alive. 115 pages and 100 animated videos, one activity per page. Print the page, watch the clip, run the session.