Fours in a Wide Grid
Groups of four working a wide grid with a goal at each end — possession that has to go somewhere.
Keeping the ball in their half only pays if bodies arrive. This is where a team learns that moving the ball is how you move the other team, and that someone has to run.
Starting at Core — your team is set to mixed.
About 20 min in the core activity · The team split into groups of four
- Ages 11–13
- The team split into groups of four
- About 20 min in the core activity
- Cones, two goals, pinnies, balls
Grab Cones, two goals, pinnies, balls.
Build Mark a 55-yard-wide by 50-yard-long grid with a goal at each end — wider than it is long, on purpose.
Place Divide the team into groups of four.
One wide, shallow grid with a goal at either end and small groups working across it.
- 1
Organize the players
Mark the grid, split into fours, start a group attacking each goal.
“It's wide on purpose. There is always another side.”
- 2
Show the jobs
Ask for combinations through an opening rather than around it, and for someone to arrive beyond the ball.
“Maintain possession, look to combine through an opening.”
- 3
Play
Rotate groups. When a team circulates and the defense shifts and a lane opens, stop and name what just happened.
“Move to move opponents. That's what just did it.”
Look for The third player arriving — not the passer or the receiver, the one who runs past both.
- 4
Switch and repeat
Require the goal to be scored by a player who arrived from behind the ball.
“Get numbers forward quickly. The finish has to come from someone who ran.”
Too hard? Narrow the grid so the switch is shorter. Too easy? Add a defender, or require two passes in the far third before the shot.
Go deeper · 3 notes
Why it works
A grid wider than it is long makes lateral circulation obviously available and forward progress obviously earned. The tactic teaches itself before anyone names it.
What they learn
Possession in their half is a means. If nobody arrives, nothing happens.
What's next
Switching the point of attack at full numbers.
Where does this come from?
US Soccer and Massachusetts Youth Soccer — their published nine-a-side session plans for U13 and up.
A governing body published this — the same organization that writes the rules your league plays by.