Rugby4square

Use this handling game as an ideal warm-up as well as a challenge for the players to innovate. Thanks to Geraint Davies for this idea.

1. Set up four 3m squares, about 1-2m apart. Put a player in each square.
2. Use two balls at the same time.

1. The ball carrier aims to bounce the ball in another player’s square.
2. That’s worth one point.
3. The winner is the first to 10 points.
4. The players must stay in their boxes unless they are fetching a ball. The game continues even though they are fetching the ball. You fetch a ball that has entered your square.
5. There are no points if a player leaves the square.

1. Once the player makes a throw, they must touch a cone. You could make this that they touch a different cone around the box after each throw.

DEVELOPMENT

As the game goes on add in a few different types of balls to really work handling skills.

Play the game with players all on their knees.

Add bonus points for creative ways to catch or block the ball. For example, a one-handed catch, a block using the feet or kicking into another square.

COMMENT

We allowed other players to drop the ball into an empty square if the player was still collecting the ball. This was mainly because of the laughter it caused! As players have become more proficient with the game, I have also started with more than two balls and tried to incorporate the variety of balls used. I have a collection of different sized footballs, rugby balls, solo-skill rugby balls and tennis balls which I use in this game.