Three Team Possession Game

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Steps:

1. The game is played on a large space approximately 40x40 yards. If your team needs fitness or is not very good at possession then make the grid larger. If your goal is for the team to work ion playing in tight spaces then make the grid smaller. You will need three sets of bibs to set up the teams. (See diagram).
   
2. In the diagram we have set up three teams of 4. Two teams (Yellow and Red) are on offense to start and keep possession from the Blue team for as long as they can. Its 8 versus 4. Whichever team loses the ball to Blue will automatically become the defensive team wihile the Blue team joins the team that did NOT lose the ball. For example, if Yellow lost possession to Blue then the Yellow team would defend against Blue and Red.
   
3. Play for approximately 10-20 minutes with breaks every 5 minutes for water. If teams are good at possession this can be a really tough fitness drill for the defensive team.
   

Setup:

• 40 x 40 yards approx. depending on skill level.
  
• 3 teams of 4 or more.
• 2 endzone marked out with  several cones.

Variations:

• You can limit the amount touches available to each player to increase the speed of play and thought.

Tips:

• Offensively, the goal of this game is to make the defending team chase the ball. Use a few quick short passes to draw the defense close and then play a long ball to open them up. Once the long ball is played the attacking team must support the ball and repeat the same passing.
• Defensively the goal is to make the field as small as possible. Try to stay compact, communicate, and work together to win the ball. If you are stretched out defensively then it will be easy to combine passes. When the long ball is played you have to work harder then the attacking team to get into their passing lanes.
  
• Transitioning from defense to offense is crucial. Defensively the best time to win the ball back is right after you lose it so organize quickly and pressure the ball. Offensively if you have just won the ball the best thing to do is find an outlet pass and get out of pressure then regroup.
• Encourage all players to communicate especially on defense. You should hear phrases like "shift right/leftt", "man right/left", "pressure/tackle", "you have player X"... etc.