Free kick options
A game sense drill for U11 and up, with where the cones go, how it runs and what to say when it is not working.
Free to read with no account. It works at a pitch with no signal too.
- Age grades
- U11, U12
- Time
- 9 minutes
- Players
- 8 to 21
- Space
- 30 x 25 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
A free kick or free pass position. Attacking team set up around it.
How it runs
Take it quickly, take it slowly, or take it wide. Three different plans, practised until each one is automatic. Six of each. Most minis restarts are a child looking around wondering what to do while the defence gets organised.
What to watch for
- Decide before you pick the ball up. Look up first
- Quick means quick. Two seconds, before they are set
- Everybody needs to know which of the three it is
Make it easier
- Coach calls which option to use
- No defence
Make it harder
- Defence gets an extra player if you take longer than five seconds
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Picking the ball up then looking around for an idea
- Look up first, then pick it up
- One child taking it quickly while the rest are still walking
- Say which one it is. Everybody answers before you go
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U11 rugby allows is the rule this sits under. Regulation 15 is reissued every summer, so the RFU's own rules of play are the ones to read for this season rather than a copy on somebody else's website. Ours included. Read against the RFU's 2026/27 appendices in August 2026.