Now THAT's a Rondo!

I've seen a quote that says "The whole of the game is present in Rondos"

I'm not sure about this but since discovering them I have come to see them as an important tool for youth development. However, when I talk to other coaches I sometimes get the idea that they are misunderstood. 

Opinions tend to vary from " Ah, the secret weapon of Barcelona " to " Piggy in the middle? "

I certainly found that lot's of coaches I know use what they call a Rondo as some kind of warm up before sessions or games start and my own 9 year olds saw it as just a bit of fun when I introduced them to it.

The problem is, the Rondo is so much more and can be used in many different ways. After asking my players what they thought about Rondos I decided I needed to reintroduce them and highlight their effectiveness in a new way. Below is a description of how I did this in a recent session.

We've probably all seen this set up and this 4v2 exercise is how I chose to break down the Rondo and show the elements it can work on and what the players should be thinking about. 

The whole session was no longer than 30 minutes with lot's of good varied repetition and minimal intervention. 

As I introduced the Session I received the inevitable groans from some of the players who have grown to misunderstand the Rondo. I used this as an opportunity for them to voice their opinions and understand how they felt. 

"Boring"

"Not that again"

"Same old same old"

Some of these comments I'd heard before but some comments were new and surprised me:

"Too difficult"

"Not sure what I'm supposed to be doing"

These were the opinions I needed to try to overcome and here's what we did.

Firstly, I decided to work on the 4 players with the ball. I wanted to highlight that this shape appears in the game a lot and that how they interact and MOVE is crucial. If you watch a lot of Rondos though, even at the highest levels, the ones you tend to see show the players pretty much stationery just pinging the ball around. 

I felt the lines play a part in this so we moved all the players inside the box. Keeping the box as a reference, the pitch if you like. 

I then told the players that the game was about them moving up and down or side to side to help create passing lanes for the player with the ball. We placed one "defender" inside rather than two and got them started. 

Immediately, movement began. Player came towards to offer themselves for a pass and others moved to create options that removed the defender. 

Point Number 1

Rondo is not about standing still 




The players agreed that this was already feeling more like what happens in the game. We played for five minutes and then introduced the next element.

We had discussed and coached 1st, 2nd and 3rd line passes for over a year so the players knew the concepts. I started to talk to them about each pass and what it could be used for:

1st Line - Draw the player, invite a press, make them do something.
2nd Line - Eliminate one player, go around.
3rd Line - Go through, Penetrate, Move forward, create. 

Although they understood the concepts previously, this simple switch to "what are they for?" seemed to improve their understanding. We played again and I asked them to shout the type of pass they were making before or as they were playing it. After that I asked them to shout why they were doing it " move him, around him, through"

Point Number 2

Rondo is not about 1 kind of pass




So for the 4 "outside" players we were already working on numerous coaching points all of which can be worked on singularly, in combinations or as different ones for each individual:

• Movement of unit
• Support / depth / width
• Type of pass
• Weight of pass
• Body shape to receive
• Creating movement
• Thinking ahead
• Taking risks

After playing for a while I asked if they felt the exercise was getting easier and they agreed. This is when I added the second defender and made a change to the pitch. 

I added thirds to the pitch and initially locked the defenders into the middle third. I asked the attackers to continue as they had been and shifted focus to the defenders. 

Point Number 3

Rondo is not just about the attackers

Immediately the attackers found things more difficult and more turnovers occurred but as the defenders were locked in the middle third they soon found ways of moving them, splitting them apart and playing through with a 3rd line pass. 

I asked the defenders what the issue was. 

" We can't move forward to put pressure on" 

Great spot. I asked if sometimes they would need to not put pressure on? 

" what about when you're tired?"

This led to us quickly discussing defending as a pair, the distances between each other and shifting across when needed. 

With this insight, we played for another few minutes. Cohesive defending started to appear. The attackers tended to keep possession though, they just struggled to play through as much.

"What's the problem?" I asked

" We are too flat and close together, they can always play around"

Point 4

Defending a Rondo is not about aimlessly chasing about. 

After this, I allowed one of the defenders to enter any third but one was still locked in the middle. "why am I doing this?"

"To allow one of us to press"

"What about the other?"

" They should cover by being deeper but still block of the through pass"

WOW!

We played and swapped on transition as normal. 

The 2 Inside players had been working on:

• Pressing, triggers, 
• Shifting point of pressure
• How to cause a mistake
• Defensive body shape
• Covering the press
• Blocking passing lanes
• Patience with 1st line pass
• Defending the around and through pass

Finally, I removed the Thirds and observed the final few minutes of the Rondo. The technique, movement, defending and physical nature all seemed to have been improved. 

At the end, I said " Now that's a Rondo "

Some of my players still don't like Rondos but why should everyone like everything we try to do? The difference now is they have a greater understanding of what is expected of them which allows them to throw themselves into it. As with any session the intensity should be correct.

I've even had players decide which of the many elements they want to focus on during the Rondo. As a coach you could drive this based on players needs or give them ownership.

The Rondo can be used as a simple warm up or a way to have a laugh, it can also be used in the simple format above for numerous different reasons and focuses. Beyond this simple version, a myriad of options open up. Tactical Rondo, Positional Rondo. 

In the end, this is it's power, the flexibility and number of elements it covers.