Setup: Everyone on together — U10s beside adults, that's the point of the night. Pairs matched small-with-small and big-with-big, spread across the pitch striking the same direction, helmets on all ages.

How it works: Pairs strike back and over at a distance that suits them — six metres for the smallest, forty for the seniors. Rolling calls every minute keep bodies warming: SWAP (jog and find a new partner your own size), GROUND (everything along the grass), HIGH (loopy ball, catch it clean), STRETCH (one pair leads a stretch and sixty people copy it). Mentors use the time to set out the five stations. Finish with the whole crowd counting ten perfect pair-strikes out loud together — the noise sets up the night.

Setup: Five stations around the half pitch, a mentor and a scorecard at each, groups of 4–6 sorted by rough age. Three minutes per station, rotate on the horn. Chalk each player's name on their card as they arrive at their first station.

How it works: Every player faces all five tests and banks a score for each. TEST 1, WALL TOUCH: thirty seconds of strike-and-control off the wall (or a kind partner-feeder where there's no wall) — count clean controls. TEST 2, LONG PUCK: three strikes from a line, best one scored by the zone it lands in, one to five. TEST 3, SPEED DRIBBLE: slalom the ball on the ground through six cones over 20m and back — mentor counts seconds. TEST 4, THE CUT: three sideline cuts at a 5m cone circle from a distance set by age — U10s chip from the hand instead. TEST 5, HIGH CATCH: five lobbed balls from the mentor, count clean catches at full reach. Scores on the card before the group moves. The card is the product of the night — guard it.

Setup: One dribble slalom, one long-puck line and one wall lane (or partner-feed lane) kept live in the middle third. Everyone else gathers around as the crowd — the crowd is the equipment in this block.

How it works: Mentors call out duels between players with matching round-one scores — same age or not, the card decides who's fairly matched. Dribble races run two abreast; long-puck duels are one strike each, furthest wins; wall duels are thirty seconds of alternate touches, cleanest count wins. Crowd counts every rep out loud and the winner stays on for a maximum of two duels before rotating out so the night crowns many, not one. Any player may challenge any mentor once — the club demands it.

Setup: Mixed-age teams of five built at the start of the block — every team gets one U8–U10, one U12, one U14–U16, one adult and one wildcard. Relay course laid down one flank: dribble weave, gate strike, high-catch box, cut station, wall-touch anchor leg.

How it works: The race the night is remembered by. Leg one, the youngest dribbles the short weave. Leg two, U12 strikes through a 3m gate to hand over. Leg three, the teenager sprints to the box, catches two lobs from their own adult teammate, sprints on. Leg four, a cut (or chip) must land past a line before leg five begins. Anchor leg, the adult banks ten wall touches to stop the clock. Run it twice: once to learn it, once against the watch, and the second run is the one that counts — beat the other teams or beat your own first time, both get roared home.

Setup: Stretch circles by age pod — an adult leads each one. Cards collected at the gate or photographed on the spot by a parent or mentor.

How it works: Short stretch in the pods: shoulders, hamstrings, wrists, one big group reach for the sky to finish. Then the roll of honour, quick and loud: best score per test per age band, the relay podium, and the duel of the night. Every player leaves knowing their five numbers — that card is the reason they'll be back for the rematch.