Play Phase session: cat and mouse

Session overview

This session will help players:  

• develop fundamental football movement skills   
• make decisions linked to attacking and defending   
• become aware of their positioning and the space around them. 

If you like this idea, download the session cards and give it a go. And don’t forget to share your experience on the England Football Community. We’d love to know how you got on. 

Organisation  

Cat and mouse is a variation of a tag game where someone tries to tag someone else as they move around an area. 

The 'tagger' could be one player, perhaps even a team. It could even be everyone.  

The players usually tag each other by touch. But it could also be by stealing a ribbon, running a circle around the player or tackling away their football.  

It's easy to set up. You only need a group of players and some cones to mark out an area.  

How to play

Cat and mouse works best with groups of two or three. 

Mark out a shape on the floor, such as a small triangle or square. The children decide who'll be the cat and who'll be the mouse. 

When everyone's ready, the cat moves around the outside of the shape to catch the mouse. The cat catches the mouse by tagging them on the shoulder.  

If you have groups of three, stand the third child in the middle of the shape to act as a barrier. Remember to rotate the roles around. 

You could give one or both children a football to move with. Try to make it as even as possible, so if a child finds it too easy, ask them to dribble the ball with their feet.