Group of players in small courtyard (5)
I believe the answer is:
squad
'group of players' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'small courtyard' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'courtyard' becomes 'quad' (short for quadrangle).
's'+'quad'='SQUAD'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for squad that I've seen before include "Crew" , "Group (of soldiers, players etc)" , "Small military unit" , "Small group or team" , "Body of soldiers" .)