Coaching tools › Activities › Rondos

Four-Line Rondo

By Gabe Ramos · U.S. Soccer Coach Educator · Updated October 2026

A 10x10 with one attacker on each side line and one defender inside. Attackers may slide along their own line but not leave it. Eight passes is a point. The rondo that opens weeks 1 and 2 of the travel season.

Setup

A 10x10 square with one attacker on each side line and one defender inside. Attackers may slide along their own line but not leave it. Eight passes is a point. Swap the defender every 45 seconds, or when they win it.

Why it works

The lines are the lesson. Because each attacker owns a whole side, they learn to use it: slide until the ball can see you, get big before the pass arrives, not after. That is the first team habit of the season in a ten-yard square.

Swap the defender every 45 seconds whether they have won the ball or not. Tired defenders stop pressing and the rondo stops teaching.

Where it sits

This is the Rondo block of Week 1 · Session 1 in the Full Season Travel Curriculum for ages 9 to 12 (Weeks 1–2 · Positions and Shape). Every session in the book runs the same 90 minutes: rondo, sharpen, solve, play and a set piece, drawn for 7v7 and 9v9, with two coaching points a day and a match-day page for every week.

Run it inside the free U10 practice plan ›

More like this

Ages 11+ · Rondos3v1 Square

The first rondo. Three attackers on three sides of a small square, one defender inside, two touches and five passes for a point.

Open the activity ›Ages 11+ · Rondos4v1 With a Call

A 4v1 rondo where the receiver has to call a number shown by a helper before the first touch.

Open the activity ›Ages 11+ · Rondos4v2 Split

Four attackers on the sides of a 10x10, two defenders inside working as a pair.

Open the activity ›