Play Phase session: sharks and fish

Session overview

This session will help players:  

• develop fundamental football movement skills   
• make decisions linked to attacking and defending   
• become familiar with directional play.  

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

Sharks and fish 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.

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 an area where the children can run from one side to the other.

How to play

One or more children start as sharks, and the rest are fish. The sharks can use their arms as a pretend mouth. A shark shouts "dinner time" and runs after the fish as they try to get from one end of the ocean to the other. When the sharks get close to another child, they tag them by touching their back.

When a fish is tagged, they join the team of sharks until no fish are left in the ocean.

You could play for a certain time to see how many fish the shark can catch. You could also see how many times a fish can get from one side of the ocean to the other.

Some children may be ready to play the game with a ball. They could be a goalkeeper and bounce the ball as they travel across the ocean. They could be an outfield player and dribble the ball.