Sports Drills

Small-Sided Game Template

Four 5-minute games with 2 minutes between them to swap teams and take on water. Works for 3v3, 4v4 or any conditioned game.

7 rounds 1 set 26 min total

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Ready

05:00

Space start or pause · S skip the lead-in · F fullscreen · R reset · Esc exit fullscreen

Rounds

1 Game 1 05:00
2 Team Change 02:00
3 Game 2 05:00
4 Team Change 02:00
5 Game 3 05:00
6 Team Change 02:00
7 Game 4 05:00

Make it yours

Press start and this template runs as-is — nothing is saved and no account is needed. Customize it to change the rounds, and you get your own timer with its own shareable link.

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Other Sports Drills templates

Agility Ladder Drill Template 18 min
Sprint Repeat Drill Template 16 min
Boxing & Martial Arts Round Template 24 min
Skill Station Rotation Template 20 min
Swim Send-Off Set Template 15 min

About this timer

Four five-minute games with two minutes between them to change teams and drink. Small-sided games are the most efficient conditioning tool in team sport because the fitness comes free with the skill work: players cover more ground, touch the ball far more often and make more decisions per minute than any full-sided match gives them. Five-minute blocks keep the intensity high and make the teams easy to rotate.

Best for

Soccer, basketball, hockey, handball and futsal
Conditioning that does not feel like conditioning
Squad sessions where you want everyone involved

Game formats that work

3v3 or 4v4 on a short pitch — the highest touches-per-player format
Two-touch or one-touch restrictions to force quicker decisions
Small goals with no keepers to keep the ball moving
Rotate one player out per game so nobody plays all four at full intensity
Score by conditions — three consecutive passes, or a goal only after everyone has touched

Scaling it

Easier: Bigger pitch, more players, three minutes of rest. Space is the dial that controls intensity.
Harder: Shrink the pitch, cut to 2v2, or reduce the break to sixty seconds.

How the clock runs

One pass through this timer is 7 rounds and 26 min. It runs once, for 26 min in total. The intervals break down as 4 × 5 min and 3 × 2 min.

Round-by-round breakdown of the Small-Sided Game Template
#	Interval	Length	Elapsed
1	Game 1	05:00	05:00
2	Team Change	02:00	07:00
3	Game 2	05:00	12:00
4	Team Change	02:00	14:00
5	Game 3	05:00	19:00
6	Team Change	02:00	21:00
7	Game 4	05:00	26:00

Questions about the Small-Sided Game Template

How small should the pitch be?

Roughly a hundred to a hundred and fifty square metres per player. Smaller means more touches and higher intensity.

Why two minutes between games?

Enough to change teams, take on water and reset the pitch without letting the group go cold.