Myths About Soccer Training #2

Myths about physical
development in youth soccer

In the first post , we touched on the notion that all youth soccer players should play multiple sports to avoid injury, increase athleticism, and prevent “burn out”.

Myth #2 – Speed is purely

genetic and cannot be coached.

Speed training, in soccer, is

developed through endless

sprints with little rest, just like

the game is played.

Speed training can definitely be taught into the game of soccer should be designed for developing players, young and old. In fact, just like any skill on the ball, speed is a complex neuromuscular pattern and needs to be taught consistently, for effective results to occur. I believe that the more important conversation and questions are as follows:
1. What does speed training for soccer look like?
2. Are certain ages (biological) more susceptible to speed development? 3. Can speed training be added into practice?

What does speed training for soccer

look like?

There is much research about the specific demands of the game and how many sprints take place, on average, within a match. Most research states that, within a 90 minute match, players run upwards of ~6 miles and make an estimated 19 high speed sprints (straight) per game with an average duration of 2 seconds, each. We should also include the fact that players are performing anywhere from 700-900 different changes of direction within each game, and speed does not just include the work performed in straight sprinting. Lastly, It is worth mentioning that statistically, the game is played at a much higher speed than even 10 years ago. In professional soccer, the number of sprints and high intensity activity per game has doubled, since 2002. Not only is the ball moving faster, but the players are as well, so speed becomes a very critical portion of youth soccer development. So with all of this being said, how should speed training be conducted for soccer athletes? Even though the majority of runs, within a soccer match, are executed at less than 100% speed (due to energy demands), the ability to increase the overall speed of the player enables the lower speeds to become faster. Thus, in order for your training to become effective speed training, the drills must be conducted at 100-110% of maximum velocity for effective change. You must teach your body to become fast. If you train speed at 80%, then your body only knows 80% to be its highest speed potential. **Yes, it does exist to train above 100% max velocity, through a number of ways that may be discussed in another post.

Lastly, but most importantly, the sprint training, just like any other skill, must have clear and concise coaching objectives for effective change to take place. The normal youth soccer player, is extremely inefficient and ineffective in their technical running form. Quick changes made by simple cues, will give an immediate progression of speed ability. Do not let your players add volume onto dysfunction. If the player is running incorrectly, the issue will only continue until changed, therefore the progression for speed will be much less effective. Here are some simple cues for linear speed training (cues for change of direction and quickness are different): Arms must work from chest to clear the hips The foot must make ground contact underneath the hip to push backwards The player’s posture must be such, that the hips extend forward, generating efficient acceleration

Are certain ages more susceptible to

speed development?

The answer to this question is, yes, but that does not mean that speed training should be ignored outside of these ages. Biological age is different from chronological age, in that the individual body grows at very different speeds. You can look at several 13 year old boys and girls in a line and see that one player may be much more physically developed then the others. This means that the bodies ability to train and develop certain skill sets are much different, due to the integrity of the skeletal, neuromuscular, and cardiovascular systems. The concept of biological vs. chronological age is very important for physical development of players. Speed development is best trained at two separate times of biological development:
Females Speed 1 = at 6 to 9 years old.
Females Speed 2 = typically around 11-13 years old.
Males Speed 1 = typically around 7 to 9 years old.
Males Speed 2 = typically around 13-16 years old.

Can speed training be added into

practice?

Although there are few different types of training that will increase speed, within a soccer player, a large majority of these training modalities can be done on field within a practice. We have already discussed recommended intensity, duration, and volume of runs for speed, but another important aspect of speed development is strength training. Common sense will tell you that the more fit and strong a player is, the faster they will become. Research shows that the more a player can squat, the faster they are within their acceleration sprints of 0-10yds. We will be touching base on appropriate strength and fitness training in later posts, but I would like to add simple guidelines to speed work within training. All speed training should be performed at the beginning of the session, just after the players are warmed up. Have a technical objective within the speed drills performed that aligns with your objectives for the rest of the practice. Make sure that these drills are performed with quality technique to create good habits. Plyometric and strength training can be performed on field, but should be done intelligently, at the correct volumes and ages. Make sure that players of all ages (even 7-8 years old) are going through age specific strength training, in order to increase speed potential and decrease injuries.

Myths about soccer training #1

Myth #1 – Playing multiple
sports (cross-training) is
always good for Long Term
Athletic Development and will
keep my child from incurring
injuries and “burnout”.

It is believed that playing 1 sport, too early, does not allow the maturation and development of specific muscle groups and coordinated skills, therefore creating susceptibility to chronic injuries due to repeated stress on the same part of the underdeveloped body. For young soccer players, we see this manifest itself in such ways as: plantar fasciitis, Sever’s disease, Osgood Schlatter’s disease, jumpers knee, spondylolysis, and hip flexor/quad/groin strains. It is amazing that I regularly hear of 10 year olds with chronic injuries that should be more commonly found in middle-aged long distance runners. This has become more of the norm than an anomaly. Due to the repetitive skill sets in soccer and the recurring stress due to similar movements throughout the game; youth soccer players are commonly asymmetric, with extremely strong and tight quads and hip flexors and adversely weak glutes and hamstrings. The constant change of direction and jumping creates a ton of stress on the body, and the asymmetries aforementioned can wreak havoc on the body and create these overuse injuries. This, coupled with the long competitive soccer seasons and imprudent practice to game ratio, has youth soccer organizations mixing a cocktail of inevitable issues that parent and coaches are calling “just a part of the game”. It may be part of the game today, but does it have to be? The “cross-training” rationale, of playing multiple sports, is intended for young players to create an aptly prepared body for the rigors of soccer (or whatever sport they choose), by changing the nature of the sport and skill sets while developing strength in the typically weak areas of the body. This should, in theory, give the overstressed muscles and joints a recovery period, whilst still being active and developing athletic skill sets, and discovering the sport of choice. This model has been shown only to be successful if some very important principles are followed. 1 sport is played at a time. Never play multiple sport seasons or play on multiple soccer teams at the same time. Appropriate strength and flexibility training is developed along with the sport skills, throughout all ages of soccer development. Intermittent months throughout the year must be utilized to separate the player from competitive soccer. This means no indoor in the winter, endless camps in the summer, or using soccer as a means of babysitting when your child has nothing else scheduled, unless the programs have an understanding of how to properly develop players.

I believe that this argument for “cross-training” was valid (and still can be), a decade ago, however the competitive nature of youth sports today has far exceeded the recreational nature it once had and is not a valid justification for injury prevention. Nowadays, competitive soccer starts at 7 years old and often plays the traditional 2-season (spring and fall) club year. The pressure and demand that parents (therefore clubs) put on these young players is immense, while commonly having as many games on the weekends as practices during the weeks. When players continue to play other sports, each respective sport and their teams are equally competitive and do not care nor take into consideration that these kids are going from competitive sport season to competitive sports season, without rest. More often, I find that young soccer players are playing in two different competitive sports in the same season or on two different competitive soccer teams (club and school) and are moving from practice to practice, sometimes in the same day. “I often see the best athletes, at young ages, being the players that are suffering the most. Every soccer team wants them to play as many games as possible and other sports try to draw them into their respective seasons. It’s a recipe for disaster.” What was once a great way to develop a myriad of sport skills may end being more detrimental on the body than ever realized. The absence of an off-season, or more relevant, the absence of lower intensity and appropriate general preparation training, within the soccer season, accumulates fatigue in the central nervous system and trauma in the soft tissue and muscles. This is when injuries start to occur. The developing joints, bones, and circulatory systems are not able to rebuild as fast as the player is breaking down, causing the body to induce inflammation and pain in order to force the body to slow down. Players, at the advice of parents and coaches, tend to play through these pains. Too many games and not enough practice then throw the overly fatigued and underdeveloped players to the “wolves”, where 1 false move/tackle/run can mean trouble. So what are the solutions? I think that there are many ways to solve this problem, but it has to be done with education on your goals within youth soccer participation and following some strict guidelines. I am not in the opinion that youth players should avoid playing other sports, actually I think it is extremely beneficial. The point is that parents need to be careful of over doing the competitiveness of multiple sports and avoiding portions of the year when they are able to separate themselves from the competitive game. We need to understand the collective work volume that a player is putting in, each week, that leads to injury and “burnout”. Coaches need to be empathetic with players that are playing several sports at the same time and need to dial it down a notch on the competition and demands at young ages. Here are some guidelines that, I believe, would allow the benefits of multiple sports without the potential for injury. Play one sport at a time and change the sport each successive season When sport seasons overlap, avoid over competing and under training. Also avoid conditioning for 1 team and training for another. They do not compliment each other. Avoid coaches and teams that tend to spend time “conditioning” players off the ball, before age 14. Players that just play soccer (really all athletes) should participate in athleticism programs to develop necessary skills that are not commonly developed by the sport or club and necessary strength and flexibility that will keep the player injury free for the long term. Make sure that young players are keeping their sport environment recreational, until it is appropriate. That means, club soccer is not best for players that share sports in the same season until after 13 years old (or biological age equivalent). If you do seek out an athletic development training program, make sure that they understand biological age vs. chronological age, training history, injury history, and soccer-specific needs and seasons. It may be just as detrimental to throw your child to programs that train your player like every other sport, regardless of season. Especially at the high school ages.

In every other country, around the world, soccer has been the only sport played by nearly every youth player that develops within the game. Are overuse injuries as prevalent? Although I do not have any research or numbers to back it up, I would say yes and no. No, because of how much training and developing foreign clubs tend to do with their players. They have complete control over the nature of their training, at youth ages, therefore the technical development is priority and the competition is not. Clubs around the world are beginning to put in physical development programs in with their technical programs, and understanding the importance of developing athletes to physically peak at 26-29, not 17-19 years old. Yes, because these physical programs have not reached the vast majority of clubs, so players are breaking down there, just as they are here. Below, I’ve listed the topics that will be discussed in the weeks to come. I welcome your thoughts on this subject and look forward to the next blog.

Read This To Have Great Soccer Shots!!!!

12 Steps to a Great Soccer Shot

1. Take a touch.

Try shooting a ball you are on top of.  It is much harder to shot, and you lose power and accuracy. Shooting a ball that is at an awkward position will take much of the power off of your shot.

How you touch the ball depends on what type of shot you are using.  You need to approach the ball at an angle when using a standard shot, for instance, while setting yourself up for a straight shot is much easier.

Additionally, your touch should be away from defenders so they cannot block the shot, or take the ball away from you.

You can either touch the ball with the inside, the outside, or the laces of your foot.  With practice, you will learn how touch the ball so you can get a shot off effectively.

Learn more by reading Looking to Shoot

2.  Look Up (optional).

Before shoot the ball, you may want to look up at the goalie to see where he/she is.  This allows you to decide where to shoot.  Only do this if you have enough time to pick your head up.  There will be many times though, where you do not have time for this.

Notice that I didn't tell you to look up to see where the goal is.  You should develop your soccer radar, so this is unnecessary; however, if you haven’t you can take a peek at the goal, but it is best if you always know where the goal is.

3.  Look at the Ball

This is a part that beginning players often get wrong.  They naturally want to look at the ball, but with all the confusion going on around them, they look up at opposing players, at the goal, and at the goalie.

This leads to the player “just kicking the ball and hoping.”  The player has little control over where the ball goes, and so it often misses the goal.

To avoid this, you need to look at the ball for the entire shooting procedure.  Stare at the part of the ball that you want to strike and focus on hitting it there.

To do this, it is important to know the parts of a soccer ball.

4. Place your foot.

Many shooters only think about the foot that kicks the ball, but much of the power of the shot depends on where you place your place foot (the foot not shooting the ball).  You can greatly alter your shot, just by slightly changing the position of your place foot.

To place your place foot, you perform a little hop.  You probably do this already, but haven’t noticed it before.  It is important that you practice this because it is a very important part of the soccer shot.

Depending on the type of soccer shot, you should put your place foot in different positions, but in general, you should place your place foot even with the ball.  If you want some more loft on the ball, you can place your foot slightly behind the ball, while if you need to keep the ball on the ground (or you are running) you can place your foot a little ahead of the ball.

Width-wise, you should keep your foot at a comfortable place.  Many players have there place foot way too far away (width-wise) from the ball, and this results in shots that go way wide of the goal.

Place foots for specific shots are covered in the types of soccer shots article.

5.  Swing your arms.

Swinging your arms fluidly while shooting provides balance, and increases power.  This may seem small, but it will improve your shot.

Look at using your arms in soccer to learn more.

6.  Bring back your shooting leg.

You want to bring it back as far as you comfortably can.  Your leg should create a v-shape.  The farther you bring your leg back, the more chance you have for momentum.

Many players don’t go back far enough.  Just making this easy adjustment can have a huge effect on the power of your kick.

7. Lock your ankle.

When I say “lock your ankle”, I don’t mean that you should tighten it like you are flexing.  I simply mean that your ankle should be firm, and straight (like a putting wedge) for maximum accuracy.

9  DON’T Lean over the ball.

I often hear coaches yell “learn over the ball” when a player strikes the ball over the net and “lean back” if a player doesn't get enough loft on the ball.

Both of these are completely wrong and throw off a shot.  All you need to do is try leaning back when shooting, and you will realize how much difficult it makes it.  Leaning forward of backward decreases power, and makes shooting more comfortable.

A slight lean either way is okay, but in the end, it is what is comfortable for you.  Leaning backwards or forward only hinders your shooting ability.

So where does all the poor advice come from?  Think about this:  when you lean back, you naturally put your place foot behind the ball, and when you lean forward you put your place foot forward.  Where you put your place foot does matter.  Leaning over the ball does not, and I know that from experience.

10.  Strike it.

How you strike a ball depends on what type of soccer shot you are performing.  The important thing to work on is hitting the ball with the right part of your foot at the right part of the ball.  This takes practice, but once you get used to it, your accuracy will improve dramatically.

11.  Follow through.

I can’t stress enough how important a good follow through it.  I know personally that the power and accuracy of my shot improved greatly when I started doing it.

All you need to do is continue through the ball.  I see many players who shot the ball with good velocity, but then stop short instead of following through.  The result is the effect you would get from chipping a soccer ball.

So follow through as if the ball was still there.  Many players find it helpful to focus on landing on their shooting foot.

12.  Follow it up.

Once you take your shot, make it a habit to sprint towards it.  Sometimes, you can get your own rebound, while your fellow teammates and the opposition are staring at your shot’s beauty.

This may not seem important, but if you can score just one goal by following up your own shot, it is worth it right? Here is a video that explains everything.

If you like what i do please subscribe,like and share these articles so i can help more players.Take a look at my other blogs to improve other specific skills.                                                                         To finish think about this " What are you doing Today to make a better player tomorrow?" - Joel Morales

[Top Best] Soccer Improvement Drills #2

Want to know the best drills for improvement? Here is a video featuring a drill that has helped me a lot in the past. This drill need to be done at speed. You can do the easiest drills but doing them at pro speed is what makes it hard. So here take a look at this ----------->

Guys do me a favor go here---> http://youtu.be/CWLOrq5dD_A ,  and please like and subscribe on YouTube cause it really will help expand my drills with others.

Subscribe, like, share, and follow me on the below addresses because it truly does motivate me to make more post and better videos. Please comment what you want to see next and as always Train Hard.

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5 Tips To Juggle Like A Pro - Pro Soccer Skills

If professional soccer players have anything in common, it is this: Most of them can juggle for a long, long time.

Juggling is considered by many to be the ultimate skill for soccer players, because it emphasizes technical skills and does a great job of getting your feet comfortable with the ball. While most first-time jugglers might only be able to keep the ball in the air for two or three touches, practice can lead to quick results. The best soccer players can juggle as long as they want.

Dylan Tooby has experience coaching both college and youth soccer teams. He has always emphasized juggling to his players.

"If you can control the ball in the air," Dylan said, "you can control the ball on the ground, which is where the ball is normally."

Dylan has several points of emphasis for those new to juggling:

• Keep your toe down and ankle locked, and try to hit the ball with the laces of your shoe.                               
• Start with the ball in your hand, drop it to your dominant foot and hit it back into your hands. Then you can try to hit it twice with your dominant foot. Keep progressing.                                                                        
• Once you're comfortable just using your dominant foot, try alternating feet.                                                     
• Set goals for yourself. Try to get five touches without using your hands by the end of the week. Once you reach that, go for 10 the next week.                                                                                                              
• Practice! Hard work gets results.

Here is a video of Dylan explaining the basics of juggling: ----------------------------------------------->

Score More Goals This Season

So you want to score more goals this season? Well today i'm going to show how to do just that. Here take a look --------->

You have to work hard in order to get in the box quick enough. You have to know all the open spaces and always check your shoulder. If you want to become a better forward you have to be in top mental,technical and tactical shape. The technical part is learnt by practice. The tactical is done by watching the pros. The mental is the most important but neglected sides of soccer. In my next blog i'll show you how to have a champs mentality. Keep Training Hard!!!

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What position to play?

Finding Your Position On The Field

Lots of players ask me: "What position should I play?"

My answer to them: "What position do you want to play?"

If you are struggling to find the best position for yourself on the field, I would first ask yourself this question. Instead of worrying about what position is best for you, decide what position you want to play.

Once you have decided what position you want to play, determine what the most important skills and traits are for that position and then set out a plan to get them.

Let's take a look at an example:

Basically everyone wants to be a striker.

Who wouldn't want to be? You get to score goals and win games for your team.

Realize there also comes a lot of expectation and pressure with the position, but if you are a real player this should motivate you and not discourage you or make you nervous.

Now what skills and traits are necessary to play in the striker's position?

Well first you obviously need to be able to score goals.

How can you become a better goal scorer?

(1) Shoot everyday.

(2) Spend 10 minutes before and after practice working on your finishing.

(3) Watch great strikers online and learn from them.

Next you need to have good ball control and a first touch to receive passes and set yourself up for goal scorer opportunities.

How can you improve your ball control and first touch?

(1) Juggle everyday.

(2) Practice passing and receiving into space against a wall.

(3) Watch great strikers online and learn from them.

On the physical side of things you need to be strong to be able to hold off defenders and keep your position in dangerous areas.

How do you become stronger?

(1) Do strength-training exercises every 2nd day.

(2) Adjust your diet and eat more muscle-building foods.

(3) Learn how to protect the ball with your body.

Alright, so you know now what you have to do to develop the skills necessary for your position.

Now it's up to you to stay on top of yourself and put in the work necessary to become the player you want to be.

If you can't win the spot on your team for the position you desire, don't get frustrated. Just realize you need to develop more, learn more, and get even better.

If you are a serious Soccer player and you are willing to do anything to achieve your goals, then this will not discourage you but motivate you to improve even more.

What position do you want to play?
It's up to you.

Thanks for reading and as always train hard.
   
                        Your Friend,
                       Joel Morales

Credits to Dylan Tooby the best online coach