Not all activities teach the same thing, even when they look similar on the surface.
An activity’s function is determined by the problem players are asked to solve and the reward attached to success. This matters because players adapt to the demands of the task. If the activity rewards keeping possession, players will search for support and safer options. If it rewards scoring quickly, players will search for forward options and higher-value attacking spaces. If it rewards territory, players may prioritise gaining ground over maintaining possession.
Therefore, coaches need to understand not just what an activity looks like, but what it is actually asking players to do.
A simple question for coaches is:
“What is this activity rewarding?”
Because whatever the activity rewards, players are more likely to repeat.
What is an activity function?
An activity function is the actual game problem players must solve. It is not simply the shape of the drill, the coach’s theme, or the method players use. It is the problem inside the activity that players must solve to be successful.
For example, a cone-to-cone passing activity may reward accuracy and repetition. A keepings-off game may reward possession. An invasion game may reward entering opposition space. A scoring game may reward conversion. A defensive game may reward preventing score or creating a turnover.
So the framework becomes less about naming drills and more about understanding what the drill actually does.
Key principle:
An activity function is the problem players must solve, not the method they use to solve it.
This distinction matters because coaches can sometimes confuse the objective with the method. Pressing, protecting space, holding shape, or forcing the ball to certain areas may all be methods. But the actual activity function might be to prevent score, create a turnover, or stop the opposition from progressing.
Methods are how players solve the problem. Functions are the problem they are solving.
Primary, secondary and linked functions
Each activity can have a primary function and a secondary function. Some activities have one main problem to solve. Others have linked problems, where solving one problem unlocks the next.
For example, an activity may have escape as the primary function and keepings-off possession as the secondary function. The activity may begin in a tight, pressured area. Players must first escape the area. Once they escape, they are rewarded with a bigger space where they must maintain possession.
In this example, the activity is not simply “keepings off.” It is:
Win it tight → escape → maintain possession in space.
That is different from saying, “keepings off also has scanning, spacing and decision-making.” Scanning, spacing and decision-making may appear inside the activity, but they are behaviours, skills or coaching themes. They are not the activity function itself.
An activity can have multiple functions when solving one problem unlocks the next problem. For example, players may first need to solve the contest problem. If they solve it, they unlock the escape problem. If they escape, they unlock the possession problem.
This is important because more representative activities often have linked functions. They are not always single-purpose drills. They often ask players to solve one game problem, then immediately solve another.
Game-sense functions and objectives
Every game-sense activity should have a problem for both sides. The team in possession has an objective, but the team out of possession should also have an objective.
A lot of the time, the activity function or game objective for both teams is overlooked. Coaches often design games around the ball carrier or attacking team, while the defence simply becomes “pressure,” “opposition,” or “cones that move.” But if the defence does not have a clear function, the activity can lose realism and become one-sided.
A game-sense activity should not only ask what the team in possession is trying to do. It should also ask what the team out of possession is trying to prevent, force, or regain.
Defensive functions are often overlooked. Coaches frequently design activities around attacking outcomes such as possession, scoring, invasion, territory, target delivery or ball movement. But the defensive team also needs a clear problem to solve.
For example, in a scoring game, the attacking objective might be to score, while the defensive objective might be to prevent score. In a keepings-off game, the attacking objective might be to maintain possession, while the defensive objective might be to create a turnover. In a retrieval game, one team may be trying to retrieve the ball and return it to the coach, while the other team may be trying to prevent the retrieval, win the ball back, or transition into another function.
The big takeaway is that every game-sense activity should have an objective for both sides. The team in possession needs a problem to solve, but so does the team out of possession.
This is a strong way to improve game-sense activity design because it creates clearer objectives, more realistic opposition, and better alignment between the activity and the behaviours coaches want players to repeat.
Clean distinction
The clean distinction is:
Functions are the problem to solve.
Methods are how players solve it.
Constraints change the difficulty or conditions.
Rewards tell players what success is worth.
This keeps the framework clear.
Activity functions table
| Activity function | Core problem | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Can we execute the skill successfully? | A player or team scores by hitting the target, kicking straighter, or completing the most accurate passes. |
| Repetition | Can we repeat the action with consistency? | Cone-to-cone passing, repeated handballs, repeated kicks, or repeated skill actions. |
| Race / competition | Can we complete the task before the opposition? | A zigzag handball race where the first team to complete the pattern wins. |
| Possession / keepings off | Can we maintain the ball and deny access? | A team scores by keeping the ball for a set number of passes or a set period. |
| Retrieval | Can we get to the loose ball and secure it? | The coach rolls the ball into space and players must retrieve it and return it to the coach or target. |
| Contest | Can we win or halve a disputed ball? | Players start around a contested ball and must win possession or prevent the opposition from winning clean possession. |
| Escape | Can we get out of pressure, congestion, or a restricted area? | Players win the ball in a tight grid and must exit into a larger space. |
| Follow-up | Can we dispose, move, reconnect and impact again? | A player handballs, keeps moving, receives again, and then uses the next option. |
| Invasion | Can we enter or progress through opposition space? | A team must move the ball through defenders and enter a scoring zone. |
| Target delivery | Can we get the ball to a specific player, target, or area? | Players must hit a forward on the lead, connect with a target player, or pass into a defined target zone. |
| Territory | Can we move the ball to a better part of the ground? | A team scores by gaining ground, exiting D50, entering the front half, or moving the ball closer to goal. |
| Scoring | Can we convert the action into a score? | A team wins by kicking goals, scoring touchdowns, finishing chances, or converting entries. |
| Prevent score | Can we stop the opposition from scoring? | Defenders are rewarded for stopping a goal, forcing a miss, forcing a behind, or denying a clean shot. |
| Turnover creation | Can we win the ball back from the opposition? | The defensive team scores by intercepting, tackling, forcing an error, or winning possession back. |
| Transition | Can we react and reorganise when possession changes? | After a turnover, one team must attack quickly while the other must defend or recover. |
| Reset | Can we move from chaos back into control? | A team under pressure must find a mark, outlet, or safe option to regain control. |
| Timing | Can we complete, maintain, or prevent something within a time condition? | A team must hold possession for 30 seconds, score before time expires, or prevent score for the final 20 seconds. |
Accuracy
Accuracy is about execution. The problem is: can we execute the skill successfully?
This may include kicking through goals, hitting targets, completing passes, or executing a skill action with precision. Accuracy is often seen in activities where the most accurate player or team wins. For example, the team that kicks the most goals, hits the most passes, or completes the most accurate actions is rewarded.
Repetition
Repetition is about repeating the action with consistency. The problem is: can we repeat the action successfully over and over again?
This may include cone-to-cone passing, partner handball, repeated kicking, or small-group skill repetition. Repetition is not always game-like, but it can still have value when the purpose is to build rhythm, volume, technique or consistency.
Partner touch may sit under this function. The format may be two players handballing back and forth, but the function is still repetition.
Race / competition
Race or competition is where the problem is to beat the other team or opponent through the task. The problem is: can we complete the task before the opposition?
A zigzag handball race is a clear example. The team is not just repeating handballs. They are trying to complete the task faster than the other group.
This changes the reward. The reward is not just clean execution. The reward is beating the opposition through speed, efficiency and skill completion.
Possession / keepings off
Possession, or keepings off, is where the problem is to maintain the ball and deny the opposition access. The problem is: can we keep the ball away from the opposition?
Players are rewarded for support, safer options, ball security, movement and maintaining possession. This is different to scoring because the immediate reward is not converting. The reward is keeping control of the ball.
Retrieval
Retrieval is where the problem is to get to the loose ball and secure it. The problem is: can we retrieve the ball and bring it back to a target, coach, area or next action?
For example, the coach may roll the ball into space and players must go to retrieve it and return it to the coach. This rewards reaction, clean hands, body position, urgency and securing possession.
Contest
Contest is where the problem is to win or halve a disputed ball. The problem is: can we win the ball, or at least stop the opposition from winning it cleanly?
This may include ground balls, aerial contests, stoppage contests, or loose-ball contests. The reward may be possession, territory, a score, or unlocking the next function.
For example:
Contest → escape → possession
Escape
Escape is where the problem is to get out of pressure, congestion, or a restricted area. The problem is: can we get out?
This could be escaping a tight grid, exiting congestion, getting out of D50, or moving the ball from a pressured area into space. Escape and exit are essentially the same function. The language may change depending on the activity, but the problem is similar: players must get out of pressure or get out of an area.
Follow-up
Follow-up is where the problem is not just to dispose of the ball. The problem is: can we dispose, keep moving, reconnect and impact again?
For example, a player handballs, runs past, receives again, and then uses the next option. This is not simply pass repetition. The activity rewards repeat involvement after disposal. It teaches players that their job does not finish when they give the ball away.
Invasion
Invasion is where the problem is to enter or progress through opposition space. The problem is: can we invade the space the opposition is trying to defend?
This could involve moving through defenders, entering a scoring zone, breaking a line, getting inside 50, or progressing into dangerous space. Invasion is not just moving forward. It is moving into space that the opposition is trying to protect.
Target delivery
Target delivery is where the problem is to get the ball to a specific player, target, or area. The problem is: can we connect the ball to the required endpoint?
Target delivery is not just accuracy. Accuracy asks, “Can you execute the skill?” Target delivery asks, “Can you connect the ball to the required endpoint?”
The target may be moving, defended, constrained, or only available at certain moments. For example, players may need to hit a forward on the lead, find a target player in a zone, or get the ball to someone who can only move within a certain area.
Target delivery can also appear after another function. For example:
Keepings off → whistle → target delivery
The team maintains possession first. Then, when the game changes, they must identify and hit the target.
Territory
Territory is where the problem is to move the ball to a better part of the ground. The problem is: can we gain ground or improve field position?
This is different from scoring. Sometimes the objective is not to score immediately. Sometimes the objective is to move the ball from a poor area to a better area.
For example, a team may be rewarded for exiting D50, reaching the front half, gaining territory from a stoppage, or forcing the ball forward.
Scoring
Scoring is where the problem is to convert the action into a score. The problem is: can we score?
This could mean kicking a goal, scoring a touchdown, scoring through a gate, scoring from a shot, or scoring by completing the activity’s scoring action.
Scoring is broad. It does not always mean kicking at goal. It means completing the action that the game defines as a score.
Prevent score
Prevent score is a defensive activity function where the problem is to stop the opposition from converting their possession, territory, entry, or advantage into a score. The problem is: can we stop the opposition from scoring?
This gives the defensive team a clear objective in game-sense activities. One team is trying to score, while the other team is trying to prevent the score.
It is a clear game objective for the defensive team because the defence does not always need to win the ball back to succeed. They may succeed by forcing a poor shot, forcing a miss, delaying the attack, forcing the ball to a low-value area, or creating enough pressure that the opposition cannot convert.
This is why prevent score is different from turnover creation. Turnover creation asks, “Can we win the ball back?”Prevent score asks, “Can we stop them from scoring?”
Turnover creation
Turnover creation is where the problem is to win the ball back from the opposition. The problem is: can we regain possession?
This may happen through tackling, intercepting, forcing rushed disposal, forcing an error, pressuring the ball carrier, or winning the ball back from a loose contest.
Earlier, this may have been described as pressure. But pressure is more often the method. The function is turnover creation. The method might be pressure, tackle, corral, trap, intercept, or force a poor option. The objective is to win the ball back.
Transition
Transition is where the problem is to react and reorganise when possession changes. The problem is: can we respond when the ball changes hands?
This could be defence to attack. It could be attack to defence. It could involve quickly using the ball after a turnover or quickly defending after losing possession.
Transition is a function because the game problem changes instantly. The team must solve the new problem before the opposition can.
Reset
Reset is where the problem is to move from chaos back into control. The problem is: can we regain control of the game?
A reset activity might start in a messy, pressured or chaotic situation. The team must find a mark, an outlet, a safe option, or a controlled possession. Once they do that, they may unlock the next function, such as invasion, possession or territory.
Stoppage creation may sit under reset. If the goal is to slow the game, force a dead ball, or create a controlled restart, the broader function is still reset.
Timing
Timing is where the problem is to complete, maintain, or prevent something within a time condition. The problem is: can we solve the task inside the time demand?
This could mean achieving a task before time runs out. It could also mean maintaining an action for a set period.
For example:
Can the team hold possession for 30 seconds under pressure?
Can the team score before the countdown ends?
Can the defensive team prevent score for the final 20 seconds?
Timing is not just speed. It is not the same as a race. A race asks: can we beat the opposition to complete the task first?Timing asks: can we complete, maintain, or prevent the action within the time condition?
Timing can be a primary function in some activities. It can also work as a strong secondary function linked to possession, scoring, prevent score, or transition.
Example: scoring game
In a scoring game, the attacking function might be invasion into scoring area. The defensive function might be prevent score.
If the defence wins the ball back, the next function may become transition or possession. This shows how one activity can contain multiple functions depending on which team has the ball and what happens next.
Example: retrieval game
In a retrieval game, the attacking function might be retrieval. The defensive function might be turnover creation or prevent retrieval.
If the defence wins the ball, the next function might become escape or possession. Again, one activity can have linked functions.
Example: keepings-off game
In a keepings-off game, the attacking function might be possession / keepings off. The defensive function might be turnover creation.
A constraint may be added by making the possession team outnumbered. For example, five players might need to maintain possession against seven defenders. The function is still possession. The outnumbered challenge is the constraint.
Example: tight contest to possession
A more representative activity may begin with a contested ball in a tight space. The first function is contest. Once the ball is won, the second function is escape. Once the players escape, the third function is possession / keepings off.
So the activity becomes:
Win it tight → escape → maintain possession in space.
Example: turnover to score
A defensive team may begin by trying to win the ball back. The first function is turnover creation. Once they win it, the next function becomes transition. If they attack quickly and try to convert, the next function becomes scoring.
So the linked functions are:
Turnover creation → transition → scoring
Example: invasion to target delivery
A team may need to move the ball through opposition space. The first function is invasion. But to score, they may need to hit a specific target player. The second function is target delivery.
This may look like an invasion game, but the actual scoring action requires connection to a target.
So the linked functions are:
Invasion → target delivery
Why this framework matters
This framework helps coaches design activities with more clarity.
Instead of asking, “What drill should we do?” a coach can ask, “What problem do we want the players to solve?”
Instead of asking, “Does this drill look like the game?” a coach can ask, “What does this activity reward?”
Because whatever the activity rewards, players are more likely to repeat.
The message is that coaches need to look beyond the shape of the activity. A drill is not automatically useful because it looks organised. A game is not automatically representative because it has opposition. The value of the activity comes from the problem it asks players to solve and the reward attached to success.
If the reward matches the learning objective, the activity has a clearer purpose. If the reward does not match the learning objective, the activity may teach behaviours the coach does not actually want.
A game-sense activity should not only ask what the team in possession is trying to do. It should also ask what the team out of possession is trying to prevent, force, or regain.
Final principle
An activity function is the problem players must solve. Some activities have a single function. Better game-based activities often have linked functions, where solving one problem unlocks the next.
The agreed activity functions are:
Accuracy, repetition, race / competition, possession / keepings off, retrieval, contest, escape, follow-up, invasion, target delivery, territory, scoring, prevent score, turnover creation, transition, reset, and timing.
The framework is less about naming drills and more about understanding what the drill does.
The key question for coaches is:
Is this the actual problem players must solve, or just the way they solve it?
