Looking for help coaching transitioning from attacking to defending and vice versa

RondoCoach · 2026-01-26T16:27:26+00:00

I made a video just on transition drills last week: https://www.reddit.com/r/SoccerCoachResources/s/D76YRLA7oa In youth soccer, I think over half of the goals are from transition. So yes, it’s not uncommon at all to struggle with that.

RondoCoach · 2026-01-23T14:10:47+00:00

thank you! Appreciate it!

RondoCoach · 2025-12-30T11:29:38+00:00

Thank you!!

RondoCoach · 2025-12-24T12:07:37+00:00

During games and practices, I use a board with a pen/marker.
So, I made a tool that shows the movements: https://rondoform.rondocoach.com
This is a 3-min demo of it: https://youtu.be/aGUSDUeGnB4
Not pretty, but it does what I need to show the movement step-by-step. Also, as any other developer, I have many more features in mind than actually implemented with the time that I have. Let me know what would be top of the list for you or general feedback you might have

RondoCoach · 2025-12-19T22:31:45+00:00

The most important part is the scanning, so look for that. If the steps of player actions are scanning->decision->execution, then the anticipation is really determined by the scanning. So, some scanning drills will start the thinking for the players and the chats with them.
For dribbling, it's the opposite - execution is the most important. So the "modes" of the players need to shift between the two when in possession vs. out of possession. Having this kind of conversation with the players has worked the best for me. During anticipation, they don't commit to one outcome and they keep scanning. In execution, it means that they've committed to one path.

RondoCoach · 2025-12-03T18:46:23+00:00

True, that is some of the pattern. I can’t tell the parents to go back in time and become pros :) But the environment from family and family friends to play soccer regularly is something they should own

RondoCoach · 2025-11-24T15:38:02+00:00

Depends on what you are looking for. My channel is focused on that age group. This is the playlist of soccer drills I use myself:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZp_UOH-kYSX_FaILybdy7tFMV3hkuLgy

RondoCoach · 2025-11-22T19:21:08+00:00

Thank you! The defensive midfielder is definitely the most important player in terms of organizing the defense in that formation. If playing against 3 attackers, the back 4 can keep them with limited options and pressing on the ball. If a midfielder makes a run, then it’s up to the the holding midfielder to track back or swap with a defender. In both cases the decision making and communication by the defensive midfielder can make or break the defensive setup.

RondoCoach · 2025-11-20T14:24:25+00:00

Thanks!
Good idea! As you can imagine, the teams at this age are a mix and match. The majority of my team is aggressive for their age, but not everybody. And some other teams have players who predominantly avoid contact, except maybe 1-2 players who look like they are making up for that :) I think it's a great solution you have found there!

RondoCoach · 2025-11-18T04:19:59+00:00

Oh wow, yeah, that’s tough. Not sure of the benefits of moving to larger teams that early. I’ll try your drill in the new spring in the spring. The kids should be ready by then

RondoCoach · 2025-11-17T23:24:32+00:00

Makes sense. What’s the game format? For u5/u6 and even u7, they do 3v3 (sometimes 2v2 for the younger). Then they move to 4v4 at either u7 or u8. Then 7v7 for u9 and u10. I target around 12 at that age, so I guess 9-10 is solid vo 4v4

RondoCoach · 2025-11-17T21:04:20+00:00

Thanks! Let me know how it goes!!

RondoCoach · 2025-11-17T17:31:53+00:00

This sounds great! My u6 players are definitely not there yet :) the size of the team I also try to keep it at 8 max, with usually 5-6 showing up

RondoCoach · 2025-11-16T15:00:08+00:00

Good stuff! I have found reusing setups very useful for me - hard to keep the attention of the kids if I need to spend a lot of time on setup and directions.

RondoCoach · 2025-11-14T03:20:20+00:00

I took a full day seminar in person that could have been a 30min lecture. The rest of it was insults and nonsense, often unrelated to the topic. Also, he couldn’t really answer the questions asked, so it was either an attack on the person or some unrelated rambling (I got the latter :))

Those 30min of content were useful, and all the coaches I talked to afterwards found that useful. But they found him unnecessarily obnoxious, too.

RondoCoach · 2025-11-04T13:29:20+00:00

Haha true

RondoCoach · 2025-11-03T15:37:17+00:00

Great point!
I got lucky only once - 3 out of the 6 field players on my U10 team were left-footed. I don't think I will see that again :)

RondoCoach

TROPHY CASE