Around the World

Skill: Dribble, Run, Strike
Time Required: 15
Activity Type: Physical
Group Size: Large Group, Medium Group, Small Group
Age Group: 6 - 9yrs, 9 - 12yrs
Play area: Gymnasium (large indoor space), Outdoor - Field
Safety Considerations: Remove any safety hazards and obstacles from the play area.
Remind participants to be aware of their surroundings and to keep their head up.
Equipment: 3-4 soccer balls
Cones for nets
Pinnies
3 beanbags per team (different colours for each team).
Objective:
Participants score on the other teams' (countries') nets, while trying to prevent participants from scoring on their net.
Other Skills:
Coordination
Speed
Set up:
Please see the attached document for an example of the set up.
Divide the participants into 4 equal groups. Ideally there should be 3-5 participants per group. If there are not enough participants, or too many participants, then create less or more groups and change the set up of the nets and area.
Set up two cones for each team's net. Set up each net on one side of the play area and in the middle.
Place 3 beanbags behind each net.
Step by Step:
1. Each team will choose a country they are going to represent for this soccer game.
2. Please see the attached document for an example of the set up. In this example the teams are Brazil, Australia, Netherlands and Ghana.
3. One participant from each team will start as the goalie. They can only use their hands up to 2-3 feet in front of their net.
4. When the game begins, the leader will kick 2-3 soccer balls into play.
5. Participants have to play as a team in order to try to score on the three different team's nets.
6. They have to play offense, defense, goalie and communicate as a team in order to score and prevent from being scored on.
7. Each team has to score on the other team's net one time.
8. If team Australia scores on team Netherlands, then a participant from Australia will take one of the beanbags from behind Netherland's net and put it behind their net.
9. When one team collects one beanbag from the other teams, they win.
10. Every time a team scores or is scored on, they switch goalies. Each team should have a goalie order, so they know when it's their turn to be the goalie.
11. Additional rules; every time a team scores, all participants on that team (except the goalie) has to do 5 jumping jacks before continuing. Or, each participant on the team that was scored on (except the goalie) has to do 5 jumping jacks, or 5 squats, or 5 heel raises and so on.
Variations:
Each team will have 6-10 beanbags behind their net. In order to win, a team must have 11-15 beanbags (which can include they ones they start with), with having at least one beanbag from each team. When a team scores on another team, they steal one of their beanbags and adds it to their team's collection.
Play with tennis balls, foam balls and beach balls to make it more interesting and different.
Set up the nets further away from each other and change the size of the nets.
Play with no goalies and set up the nets so they are very small.
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.
Attachments: Download