Take the high ball
A kicking and catching 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
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 18
- Space
- 20 x 15 m
- Kit
- 4 cones, 2 balls
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
A catcher on a cone with a server fifteen metres away and one chaser beside the server.
How it runs
Serve it high so it comes down on the catcher. First round nobody chases. Second round the chaser jogs down and stops an arm's length away. Only once the catch is clean does the chaser get to run in properly. Shout your call every time, because at U11 a knock on from a high ball is a free pass to the other side rather than a scrum, so the ball on the floor costs you the ball.
What to watch for
- Call it early and loud. Mine, every time
- Watch it all the way into your hands, then pull it into your chest
- Turn side on as it arrives so nobody hits you square
Make it easier
- Throw it rather than kick it
- No chaser at all
Make it harder
- Two chasers, one either side
- Catcher starts with their back turned and spins on the call
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Arms straight up with the elbows locked, so the ball bounces off
- Soft hands. Let it come in and pull it into your chest
- Nobody says anything and two of them arrive together
- Shout mine before it comes down. Loudest voice takes it
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.