Check Your Shoulder: Call the Color Behind You

In trios, the receiver must glance over their shoulder and call the color a teammate behind them is holding up. It warms up the body and builds the habit of scanning before the ball arrives.

How to play

1. Trios in a line: passing on the move with neck, shoulder and hip mobility (2 min).
2. The middle player receives; before the pass is thrown they turn their head and call the color of the disc the back player holds up (2 min).
3. If the back player shows red, the receiver turns and passes back; if blue, they return it to the passer (2 min).
4. The back player becomes a defender: the receiver checks where they are and turns to the opposite side (2 min).
5. Rotate spots and ask: when should you look, before or after the catch? (2 min).

Rules

• The receiver only glances over the shoulder; no full turn.
• The defender in the last phase doesn't steal, just stands to one side.
• Mid-height passes from 5 to 7 m.
• Each trio stays in its own lane.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students with low vision: large, high-contrast discs, or the back player claps on the left or right.
• Deaf or hard-of-hearing students: the passer raises a hand before throwing to mark the start.
• Limited mobility: stays as the fixed receiver while the other two rotate around them.

Learning goals

• Scan the surroundings before receiving.
• Decide the next action before the pass arrives.
• Warm up neck, trunk and legs with passing on the move.

Equipment for a class of 25

• foam balls: 10
• colored disc cones: 20

Teacher tip

No colored discs? Folded pinnies or small cones work. Typical mistake: looking just as the ball arrives and fumbling it; cue the moment out loud: "look when the passer loads the arm."

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