MODULE 3.01 Introduction / A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO PREPARING FOR COMPETITION

Question 1

What is a rondo according to Cruyff?

Answer 1

“Everything that goes on in a match, except shooting, you can do in a rondo.

The competitive aspect, fighting to make space, what to do when in

possession and what to do when you haven’t got the ball, how to

play ‘one touch’ soccer, how to counteract the tight marking

and how to win the ball back.

Question 2

Rondos bring together two particular features that must be constantly sought in training?

Answer 2

• To understand the athlete’s self-organization.
• To understand the internal functioning of the game.

Question 3

Define what rondos are?

Answer 3

• They are games played on a reduced area of the playing field, where the players,

normally distributed throughout the peripheral zone of the limited area, try to

maintain possession of the ball against a lesser number of players aiming to recover it.

• It is a game with a numerical superiority of two or more players, in which the main

objective is to regain possession of the ball, starting from an initial, pre-established layout.

This activity has many elements and variants that make it a useful element in a soccer

player’s training process, as its high degree of specificity

fosters motivation among the players

• Soccer is a communicative and social game, so removing the player from the context

that affects his/her performance is not recommended, since the functions of

each player depend on a common functioning, and are a result

of being in a state of constant interaction

Question 4

Rondos as an important exercise.

Answer 4

• An exercise is defined as a situation simulating the competition context, which allows

for selectively enhancing a certain component of the practice

and increasing or reducing its level of demand.

• One of the main objectives of the training is to practice sport-specific exercises.
• Designing teaching and learning proposals involves establishing positive and meaningful

relationships between the practice of an exercise, the objectives and contents to be addressed,

and the player’s level of motor skills. The motor experience of a given practice can enhance

certain types of learning or skills, which can facilitate the development of the player.

• The conditions under which training exercises are carried out determine

the effectiveness of information sources. This leads to the self-configuration of the

athlete’s functional structure.

• An effective player will able to identify the modifications of the environment in each exercise,

and adapt or adjust his/her motor actions to this changing context. In rondos,

players receive information on the orientation of their teammates and opponents,

the trajectories of opponents, and the available spaces in which they have a current

or potential advantage, in addition to the standard numerical superiority used in the rondo.

Question 5

Before competing, one must go through a process based on reasoning and order.

This process begins at the most basic level and instills the criteria that we consider

most relevant to succeed in playing soccer, regardless

of the objectives or the playing model.

Answer 5

The objectives when applying these types of ideas are aimed at

improving certain aspects of the player, for example:

• Improve his/her relationship with the ball.
• Improve his/her body position and profile. This allows the player to correctly

perform each of the passes in which he/she intervenes.

• Use both legs to optimize the pass to a teammate,

either on the left or right side.

• Maintain possession of the ball through 1 or 2 touches.
• The possibility to identify where to direct the

next pass before receiving the ball.

Question 6

Group elements, on the other hand, are practiced in another type of exercise.

Answer 6

• In the possession stage, the typical rondo in our practice aims for maintaining possession

of the ball. It is not enough to simply prevent the ball from being stolen. An attempt is made

to ensure that, in each player’s action, he/she is in a position that assists his/her teammate.

In turn, the pass made by the player must aim to help his/her teammate to avoid losing the ball.

The objective is not to play to avoid failing yourself, but to play so that your teammates do not fail.

• Players must be constantly moving in order to create pass lines for both short and

long passes. Short passes eventually run the risk of being intercepted, due to the

proximity of the opponents in the recovery stage. A long pass alleviates this pressure

and finds a player far away or third man.

The possessor must always have more than 2 pass lines.