Football/Soccer Session (Beginner): Rondo

Description

The rondo is an important staple for young players up to top-level professional soccer - with Pep Guardiola is perhaps the most prominent proponent and his teams use the game as a vital part of practices and warm-ups. There are many different variants to coach things like positioning, teamwork, and building technical and cognitive development, but the 4v1 and 5v2 are the most simple. The reason rondos are so widely used is that they are so simple but incorporate a lot of different facets of the game on and off the ball in and out of possession. It can be described as 'keep-away' or 'monkey in the middle' to younger players.

Rondos are great to help improve passing, dribbling and shielding while also teaching them to support each other in both attacking and defending situations.

Equipment

• 15x15 area.
• 1 ball
• Attackers spread about 10yds apart, defender(s) in the middle

Directions

The 4 attackers work to keep the ball away from the defender. The goal is to see how many passes they can make without losing possession of the ball.

If a defender steals or intercepts the ball, they switch places with the attacker who last touched the ball.

If an attacker kicks the ball out of bounds, they switch places with the player who has been defending the longest.

Coaching Points

Attackers

When off the ball, support the player with the ball by moving into space.

At a higher level, you can get the players to consider what they're going to do before they receive, in order to keep the ball moving and make it harder for defenders

Consider the defenders' position and movement

Defenders

Pressure the player with the ball making it more likely he will make a mistake

2 defenders - Pressure and cover - the nearest player goes to the ball and the other defender helps out by getting close to him anticipating where the ball might go if the first player gets beaten

Change the difficulty

• Can the attacking players use 2 touches?
• If you have 2 groups, they can compete to get to 10, 20 passes first or 'splitting the defenders' more times.
• 1 points per pass
• 3 points for 'splitting the defense' - passing the ball in between the 2 defenders

Context of the game

There are so many technical skills being practiced that help within a game:

Attacking - first touch, passing, awareness, supporting teammates, and communication. 

Defending - correct defending technique, teamwork - understanding pressure and cover, communication