Partner Rondo Warm Up

Objective

• -Switch the brain on with a possession game
• -Warm the body with short, sharp movements
• -Get every player touching the ball early

Setup

1. 1Small rondo circles of five or six players in a 12 x 12 yards area.
2. 2Pair players up and give each pair one ball and a home cone.
3. 3One ball and one bib per circle.

How to play

1. 1Each circle keeps the ball away from one defender.
2. 2Start on unlimited touches and reduce to two.
3. 3Rotate the defender every 60 seconds.
4. 4Partners start together and take it in turns to lead the movement.
5. 5Pairs count how many clean reps they complete together in two minutes.

Progressions

• +Swap partners every round
• +Raise the demand once the group is consistently successful

Regressions

• -Coach works with the pair that needs support
• -Simplify the area or the service until success returns

Variations

• -Run it in threes with one player resting and coaching
• -Run the practice on the opposite side of the pitch

Common mistakes

• -Full-blooded tackles in a warm up
• -Circles too big to be useful
• -One partner doing all the work