Hitters and Dodgers
Three hitters dribble the grid trying to hit the dodgers with a pass — get hit and you grab a ball and join the hunt, until the last players standing win.
Dribble, then get your head up to make a pass — that little sequence is the whole skill, and a game the younger players love is what carries it.
10 min tonight · 3 hitters, the rest dodgers
- Ages 4–10
- 3 hitters, the rest dodgers
- 10 min as the drill is written
- Cones, pinnies, balls
Grab Cones, pinnies, and a ball for every player — though only three start in play.
Build Build a grid about 15 by 15 yards — bigger or smaller depending on the age and number of kids you have.
Place Three players with balls are the hitters; everyone else scatters through the grid as the dodgers; the rest of the balls wait outside the grid.
- 1
Organize the players
Hand balls to three players — they're the hitters. Scatter everyone else inside the grid as the dodgers, and stack the extra balls just outside it.
“Three of you are hitters. Everyone else — you're dodging. Spare balls live outside the line.”
- 2
Show the jobs
Walk it once — the hitters dribble inside the grid and try to pass their ball into a dodger; the dodgers do everything they can to avoid being hit. A dodger who is hit collects a ball from outside the grid and becomes a hitter too.
“Hitters — dribble, look up, pick a target, pass. Dodgers — don't get hit! If you are, grab a ball; you're a hitter now.”
- 3
Play
Let the dodgers dwindle. Coach the hitters to keep the ball close while getting their heads up to find the dodgers, and to hit with good passing form — the inside of the foot, good pace on the ball.
“Heads up, hitters — find one, inside of the foot, hit it firm!”
Look for The look up before the pass — a hitter dribbling with the ball close, then lifting their head to pick out a dodger.
- 4
Switch and repeat
Play to the last players standing, then reset — balls back outside, three new hitters, everyone else dodging again.
“We have our winners! New round — three new hitters, everybody else back in.”
If the hitters can't hit anyone and the game stalls, start the next round with an extra hitter or two — then thin back to three once the hits start coming.
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Why it works
Getting hit doesn't put a kid out — it hands them a ball and a job, so the game speeds up as it goes, and every hitter is working the real sequence: dribble, head up, pick a target, pass.
What they learn
Dribbling with the ball close, getting the head up to find a target, and good passing form — the inside of the foot with good pace on the ball.
Where does this come from?
SoccerXpert — their published drill library.
A published drill library. Useful and widely used, but not a governing body — so it fills gaps rather than leading.