Shark in the pond
An evasion and footwork warm-up for U7 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
- U7, U8, U9, U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 6 minutes
- Players
- 8 to 24
- Space
- 20 x 15 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 2 tags per player
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
A channel with a safe zone at each end. Two sharks in the middle, everyone else at one end.
How it runs
On the call, everyone runs from one safe zone to the other. Sharks take tags. Lose a tag and you become a shark. Keep going until there are two runners left. Takes about six minutes and every child is running the whole time.
What to watch for
- Pick your gap before you set off
- Go when it opens. Waiting makes it worse
- Sharks work together, do not both chase the same runner
Make it easier
- Wider channel
- One shark to start
Make it harder
- Narrow the channel
- Runners carry a ball in two hands
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Standing on the line waiting for a perfect gap
- Go. A gap now beats a better one never
- Both sharks chasing the same runner
- One each. Talk to each other
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U7 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.