Stocking fillers

What this session is about

1. An enjoyable final session before the new year.
2. A “selection box” of different games to enjoy.

What to think about

• Although this is a Christmas fun session, it is also good to improve team work and build a winning mentality.
• Points should be awarded for winning each game and the team with the most points wins the session (try to reward these players with a prize).
• Although each game is named after a Christmas theme, the skills and techniques used in each game (dribbling, turning, teamwork) must be emphasised to the players.
• An idea is to ask the players to come in Christmas fancy dress and to take part in the session in Santa, elf outfits etc. This will add to the fun and enjoyment of the session.

Set-up

• Use your whole squad.
• Use a playing area 30 yards by 20 yards.

What you get your players to do

1. Santa Says: Each player has a ball. Santa (that’s you, the coach) shouts out various instructions that the players have to follow, for example, “dribble with your other foot”, “sit on the ball”, “perform a stop turn”, “swap balls with another player” etc.
2. Christmas Tree Lights: You hold different-coloured disc cones (e.g. red, yellow, green). The players dribble their ball around, and when you raise one of the discs they have to perform a task. E.g. red can represent stopping, yellow can mean perform a turn and green means kick each others’ footballs out of play.
3. Aiming Snowballs: This time, when you hold a different-coloured cone, the players must try to hit you by kicking their “snowball” (football) at you. Not too hard though!