Play Phase session: knights, castles and dragons

Session overview

This session will help players:      

• develop fundamental football movement skills   
• become aware of their positioning and the space around them
• develop basic attacking and defending skills. 

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 

Knights, castles and dragons is an 'open loop game'. This means it's a non-stop game that ends when you want it to.   

It's all about repetition. Players are either knights (attackers) or dragons (defenders).  

It is simple to set up. You only need a group of players, bibs and brightly coloured cones to mark out an area.   

How to play

Mark out a large area. Inside the area, mark out some small boxes. These will be the castles. Select a few children to act as dragons and place them inside the castles wearing a bib. Everyone else will be a knight. Challenge the knights to get in and out of the castles without the dragons tagging them. 

A points system could be added in. Every time the knights get into the castles without being tagged, they earn a point. You could even give the dragons points for every person they tag. 

Encourage the children to use different movements. They could pretend to be on horseback, or you could ask the knights to move around with a ball. Let them choose how they travel with the ball.