Cones can’t fake you out. Real agility is reading another person and answering with your feet — which means the best agility training needs a second person. A parent works fine; so does a sibling. Nobody needs to be fit for it: the caller jobs are standing still.
You need a few metres of space and two markers. Take turns — leading is training too (faking someone out is a skill).
What each part is:
- mirror — face each other a couple of metres apart. one leads, shuffling side to side, stopping, going; the other shadows as tight as they can. stay low, quick feet, don’t cross them.
- call & go — stand between two markers. your partner points left or right at the last moment — sprint to that marker and back. they can fake with their eyes first; you go on the point, nothing else.
- cone steal — one marker between you both, a step closer to them than to you. when they grab for it, you try to tag their hand first. reading shoulders and hips, not eyes.
- first to the cone — both start on a clap (the caller claps behind their back so nobody can predict it), race to the far marker. losers pick the next start position: seated, lying down, facing away.
progression. shrink the reaction time — later points, quieter claps, more fakes. then add a ball: mirror while both of you dribble, or call & go with the ball at your feet. the match version of the shadowing is 1v1 defending — same low feet, now with a duel on the end of it.