Playing From The Back - Foundation Practices

These practices are all geared towards helping your players become more comfortable on the ball and understand the key points involved in keeping possession effectively. They're all included elsewhere on the site in other section (rondos, passing practices etc.) but we've collated them together here in one place for you.

With younger or less experienced players particularly, these are the foundations you will need to put in place to allow your players to eventually be proficient in playing from the back. Jumping straight in and expecting your team to effectively work the ball from the back when their ball control, passing and movement off the ball isn't at a reasonable level will leave you and the players frustrated.

Phase 1 - Basic Practices & Warm Ups

• 4v0 / 4v1 Rondo
• 4v2+1 Rondo
• Passing Circle Exercise
• Game relevance of rondos

The above is by no means an exhaustive list - adapt, invent and let us know if there are any similar practices you like to use to help your players progress in these areas of the game.

Phase 2 - Playing From the Back Specific Exercises & More Complexity

If you want more variety or complexity over the above list, we'd also recommend looking at the rondos and passing sections for some other practices you can use to build confidence on the ball and as a team when in possession.

We've also included a page on practices that involve specifically practicing playing from the back, firstly without pressure and then with pressure in a defence vs attack style practice (more on defence vs attack practices here) before moving into a full conditioned game practice where the focus is on playing from the back.