High ball hands
A kicking and catching warm-up 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
- 6 minutes
- Players
- 4 to 24
- Space
- 15 x 10 m
- Kit
- 4 cones, 1 ball per pair
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Pairs four metres apart, one ball each. Four cones marking the area so they stay spread out.
How it runs
Throw it high above your partner's head so they have to reach up for it. Ten each, calling for it every time. Then the same again with a step in to take it at the top rather than waiting for it to drop. Hands above the eyes is not how anybody catches naturally, so it wants doing cold every week rather than discovering it on a Sunday under a kick.
What to watch for
- Call it before it comes down. Mine, out loud
- Hands up early with the thumbs nearly touching
- Watch it into your fingers, then pull it down into your chest
Make it easier
- Throw it chest high
- Two hands out in front rather than above the head
Make it harder
- Take it moving forward onto the ball
- Turn on the call and find it late
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Hands coming up only once the ball has started dropping
- Hands up early. Get them there before the ball does
- The ball caught into the forearms and squeezed rather than held
- Fingers first. Catch it, then bring it in
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.