How we classify training tasks, and what it says about how we coach
By Marco Baleato · · About the author
Every task on RondoMap carries a set of labels. They are not there to fill the page: each one answers a question a coach asks when preparing a session. Put together, they also describe the way of coaching we believe in.
1. Didactic strategy: how the task is organised
It is the first label and the main way to browse the Tasks page, because it is usually the first thing you decide: what format will the task have? There are six:
Circuit: fixed sequences, stations or series, normally without an opponent. Adapted game: playful games with simple rules adapted to football, ideal for the youngest players. Positional game: possession with a positional structure, support players or target zones. Possession: keep-ball games and rondos, keeping the ball against opponents who try to win it. Waves: attacks or duels that restart after each action. Match: conditioned and small-sided matches with goals and special rules.
2. Approach: is there an opponent who makes you decide?
Analytical: there is no opponent and the content is practised in isolation, such as a passing pattern. Intermediate: there is some opposition, but it is partial (only a goalkeeper, a passive defender, indirect opposition). Global: there is a real opponent and players have to decide according to what the opponent does.
Possession games, positional games and matches always have an opponent, so they can never be analytical. Most of the tasks on this website are global, and that is a deliberate choice.
3. Objectives and concepts: what the task is for
Each task has one or more objectives, and each objective is technical (passing, receiving, finishing…), tactical (pressing, build-up, transitions…) or physical (speed, coordination, endurance…). A task can combine several types: a 4v4 with goals can train finishing, transitions and endurance at the same time.
Concepts are finer. They name the specific contents the coach will correct: directional first touch, movement to receive, third man, switching play, cover, shifting, counter-pressing… They are what you write in the coaching points and what you look at during the task.
4. Practical data: will it work with my team?
Finally, the details that decide whether a task fits your training: age group, number of players, duration, difficulty, intensity, the equipment it needs, and the part of the session it suits (warm-up, technical block, tactical block, game or cool-down).
The philosophy behind it
Football is learned by playing football. A player has to perceive what is happening, decide and execute, and almost always with a teammate, an opponent and a goal nearby. That is why we prioritise global tasks: possession games, waves and matches where the decision belongs to the player, not to the coach.
This does not mean doing away with analytical work. It has its place: in the warm-up, with the youngest players, or to correct a specific technical gesture that keeps failing in the game. But it is a means, not the goal: what is practised in isolation should then appear in a task with an opponent.
The other key idea is coherence. One session, one main objective. If the session is about pressing, pressing should be visible in almost every task, from the warm-up to the final match, and the coaching points should repeat the same concepts. Players learn more from a clear idea repeated in different contexts than from six unconnected exercises.
How to organise a session
Warm-up: activation, mobility and first contact with the ball, already linked to the session's objective when possible.
Main part: from less to more complexity. It starts with a more technical or analytical task, moves on to a tactical one with opposition (possession, positional game or waves) and ends with a game or match where everything has to appear in context.
Cool-down and final talk: lower the intensity, stretch, and close with two minutes on what went well and the key idea to take to the next match.
Throughout the week, the load changes: a recovery session after the match, higher intensity mid-week and medium intensity on the day before the match. The intensity of each task helps you adjust that.
The session planner follows exactly this logic: you choose one objective of each type, and it fills the main part from the most technical task to the game, prioritising tasks that cover the objectives and the intensity of the day.
Adapt it to your team
No classification replaces the coach's eye. Use these labels to find a good starting point quickly, then adjust the space, the players and the rules to your group. And if you think a task is missing or badly classified, tell me.
