I was at a 7-aside grassroots game recently where one team did a rondo and a short passing exercise as part of a warmup. The game kicked off, and for the rest of the game, they kicked the ball long to their striker. It left me wondering why they focused on shorter passing for the warmup when all they did during the game was pass it longer. Surely it would have made more sense to warmup in a similar manner to which they were going to play. For example, their passing in the warmup could have been longer, maybe in combination with a shorter pass to work the space, so they could easily transition from the warmup to the game.

With my teams, we usually warm up with a rondo and then we will incorporate an area we’ve been working on that week into the warmup. For example, if we are working on switching play then we’ll probably exit the rondo after 3 or 4 passes to a neutral, who will switch the ball to the other side of the pitch. So, we’ll work the space with a certain number of passes to draw pressure from the opposition, get the ball to a central player and then switch it to the other side. This is how we want to play in the match, so we warm up in a similar manner. You get the idea. We then move into a 1 v 1 drill or some other opposed activity that requires movement.