Hi,

A good warm-up is really simple, but very, very rarely meets the standard it should:

Take the players from where they are when they turn up to training, and prepare them for what they are about to do during it.

That means preparing them physically, mentally, socially, and everything put together in the context the coach wants for that session.

Now, look at these 3 example warm-ups and pretend that the session will have a main part of a full-pitch game.
Judge them by how well they prepare the players in the 3 (4 if you count all together) areas I mentioned:

1. Running
2. Football tennis
3. Rondos (passing squares where there are players in the middle trying to intercept the ball as it is being passed around by more players that are on the edges of the square, typically)

The first example, just running, can absolutely prepare the body physically by raising body temperature and thus increasing the effectiveness of various enzymes involved in physical performance, albeit in limited movements and ranges of motion.

It might also somewhat create a bonding experience for the players, as most are going to complain about "having to do meaningless runs yet again".

What it completely fails at is to prepare players mentally. There is no easing into decision-making, no real competition, nothing that resembles the game.

The second example of football tennis (or futnet) is a popular choice of warm-ups for some, and is a like volleyball or tennis played with a football using the feet and head.

It involves a ball, already an improvement in relevance over just running. It can be made into a competition, so it's definitely more fun than just running (just ask the players on your child's team!).

Taking a closer look at it though, shows that it is less good than it may appear at first glance. The whole point of football tennis is to have the ball not touch the ground. In football, no one really is in control of the ball when it is just up in the air, so we typically want to avoid that most of the time.

There is a very limited amount of teammates, if any, and no opponent can get close to you so you don't have to make those kind of decisions that happen in a football match. The directions and ranges of movements are bigger and more varied than just running, almost so much so that it is hard to be prepared for it from the get-go.

Now, rondos.

Everyone's favourite warm-up exercise. It's competing, keeping the ball mostly on the ground, opponents that are in your face quickly, and the space can be changed so that the speeds and the ranges of movements can start slower and smaller and then be increased gradually as players' bodies warm up. What's not to like?

I agree that it is a much better choice than the other two examples. One issue I do have with it is the fact that there is no requirement to be aware of anything other than what is right in front of you.

There is no need to look around, behind or to the sides, no worries about anyone sneaking in behind you, no chance of anyone stealing the ball away from your blind-zone.

That is not to say that these rondos are useless. Far from it, I do think they can be valuable in providing lots of touches in tight spaces.

But, I think they are being overused as a slightly magical warm-up exercise that solves all issues. When the team moves on to playing, be it on a small or a large pitch, the rondo fails at preparing players mentally, to be on alert, to orient themselves by having to scan the field in the relevant directions.

If you happen to run training sessions, try using a small-sided game as a bridge warm-up between the rondos and the larger-sized pitch to better prepare players.

And if you are a parent, one thing you can do is to help your child practice scanning at home, either in the garden, with the use of a VR-headset or by asking them questions about what they see during practices and helping them figure out how just looking around might be extremely helpful.

Best,

Hans Martin

P.S. I read all replies, so if you do have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me by replying to this email!

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