Creating Overloads at Midfield: Part 2 The Rondo
For part 2, we are coming off a long break for rest and hydration after a heavy start to practice with our strength and conditioning. Here, we want to activate the players mentally and get them to start recognizing the focus of the session.
To do this, we are going to set up a three team rondo with three colored pinnies and two of the teams in the rondo with the third inside the rondo. The players on the same team on the outside are placed across from each other. The game begins the same as a normal rondo but instead of it being the player who lost the ball being replaced by a single player from inside the Rondo, the two man team on the inside moves to the outside, and the player who lost the ball, his team replaces the team on the inside.
The focus we have here is for our players to look to possess using forward and sideways passes, and then provide an outlet for their teammates. The drill also simulates the risks inherit with a forward linebreaking pass. If you pass to your teammate, you know that they are worried about controlling the pass and helping you out, because if they don’t get to your pass, they also have to go into the rondo. The wide passes are less risky, though, because if you pass to them and they lose the ball, you do not have to go into the rondo, but if you play them a poor pass they may not give the same effort as your partner.
We are also working on transitions here, with two players entering the grid and leaving it at the same time. We want these transitions to happen rapidly, with the ball not stopping for more than 5 seconds. We’re looking for these transitions to happen rapidly, but also often so players are constantly changing mentality from offense to defense and vice versa.
We will modify this drill by changing the number of touches allowed by the outside players from unlimited to 3 touches, to 2, to 1 touch. We can also create a point system where the team that spends the least amount of time in the middle per group wins the game to make the drill increasingly competitive. Coaching points are going to be the normal discussions of passing and receiving, but in addition, we want to talk about how, despite the fact that we have a 4 v 2, the defense can work to negate this advantage with their press. We want to ask players how they are able to avoid these traps and utilize their numerical advantage to maintain possession.
From here, we will move to our next drill, the Shoreman Drill, where we will expand the size and numbers of the drill but maintain the focus on transition and numerical advantages.
