Benefits of using Rondos for youth players

Rondos are vital to the training systems of some of the world’s top academies like Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Barcelona, and the success of Rondos for creating good team play has become increasingly popular for grassroots coaches to implement, partly due to their simplicity.

The development of a young player’s tactical and positional work is key to rondos – but the technical side is also a big plus when you consider the benefits of using them.

Here are the 12 most important benefits of using Rondos

COGNITIVE

Players have to constantly make decisions in relation to things like teammates, opponents, position of the ball. Mistakes result in loss of the ball and a player going into the centre so it encourages players to make the correct decisions and quickly.

ONE AND TWO TOUCH PASSING

Rondos help create the environment where 1 or 2 touches is all you can have.

TECHNICAL

Due to the way that the rondo is set up, it is necessary to have control of the physical movements and technical skills with respect to time and space, the game, the ball and opponents.

RHYTHM OF PLAY AND TEMPO

Rondos can help players understand when to play quickly and when to put their foot on the ball and slow things down depending on how close the opposition player is.

TEAM BUILDING

With the type of work done in rondos, the understanding between teammates is improved, and the sense of “team” becomes the norm.

KEEP POSSESSION

Rondos are keep ball games. You have to keep the ball off the players in the middle. It’s their job to get the ball, so you need to work together as a group – a key part of winning soccer matches.

CREATIVITY AND EXPRESSION

The set up of rondos forces the players to use various technical and tactical techniques to solve constantly changing situations within the game. This helps develop creativity.

IMPROVED CONTROL

The tight spaces forces players to have a good first touch to give them the time and space to keep control of the ball.

COMPETITIVENESS

Competition between players is high. Players have to fight to make space, learn how to hold off a tight marking and how to win the ball back. Nobody wants to be the one making the mistake which leads to time in the middle.

SHORT PASSING

Rondos are all about short passing in tight areas of the game. Using rondos gives your players lot of practice playing passes at short distances under pressure.

PHYSICAL CONDITIONING

With rondos a team works on agility, balance and coordination by varying the space, time and number of players involved.

MOVEMENT OFF THE BALL

Players must understand that they continue moving after they have passed the ball – stay available for the ball to be passed back, or run into space to provide another option. In this way players always have a passing option.

For activities and advice go to our Rondos section