Your Soccer Fitness Coach

As most of you know i have followed the Beckham saga a little and this i find pretty amusing. The England manager has said that if Beckham does not play regularly in the next couple of months he has no chance to play for England. Beckham went to Milan for fitness so he could make the English squad but if he does not play then what does he do…. read the rest of the story below

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article5376258.ece

As we all know soccer is a tremendously tough sport especially on the legs. To help get your players fast, strong, healthy with better balance and proprioception they need good single leg strength. 

Grab a stool that is about the height of the back of your knee. The stand in front of it and sit to the stool while just touching the stool with your butt but not putting weight on the stool. then right back up. If you can’t perform at least 6 good single leg squats like this you need to really spend some time with some single leg exercises.

If you having a hard time sit all the way on the stool then get into a position as if you had just squatted from standing, then just stand up. Repeat

This will get you started in the right direction to help with your single leg squats.

I am working on some pictures and videos so that you can better understand what i am writing.

Your Soccer Fitness Coach

Jeff

Ryan Kelley Leads Rhode Island College into NCAA

Ryan Kelley heads  Rhode Island College into NCAA Tournament with a late goal in the 87th minute. This is Rhode Island College’s first appearance in the tournament. Good luck to Ryan and the rest of the team this weekend!

Allison Kelley a soccer athlete I work with was named MVP for the finals of the RI Soccer Championship on Saturday! Congrats!!!!

Soccer Warm-ups are one of the most important parts of any practice and especially games. I can’t believe I am still writing about this topic. I guess it is a hard habit for many coaches to break. Here is what I have seen even in the last couple of months:

Coaches go tell their players to warm-up and they just mill around lazily passing the ball or sitting and stretching (statically ugh)!

Coaches tell players to ”Stretch Out” -athletes sit usually in a circle and talk the whole time are they actually doing anything?

Coaches tell players to run yes for some reason it is always 2 laps I do not think i have ever heard 3 laps not that that would be better.

Coaches tell players to line up for shots on goal…..now they don’t just say take it easy they want the players to blast the ball and has the goalie even prepared to take a shot.

Coaches tell players to do a dynamic warm-up (good job) then right before the game they static stretch for a good 5-10 minutes.

Coaches do just technique stuff to warm-up …you know the whole specificity thing….at least that is their excuse.

And the worst thing is nothing!

The easiest way to condition, reduce the risk of injury, increase strength, power, and flexibility is a well thought out Dynamic Flexibility Warm-up that includes BOTH non ball exercise and ball skills.

Check out the rest of the article here

Here in the northeast the weather starts to get chilly and the soccer turns from the outdoor version to the indoor version. Here is what I have been seeing from youth indoor soccer: injuries, over training, bad habits, burn out. Let’s look at the schedule for a soccer player that plays all year round starting in the fall season

August- Preseason and start of some seasons

Sept- Mid to late November- Actual spring season

November-March- Indoor season sometimes three different sessions

March - May - Spring season

June - july Playoffs, regionals, camps

When is the recovery time?

The most important seasons are spring and fall not the winter season or the indoor season but i see far to many coaches put a large emphasis on winning during the indoor season. Causing all sorts of issues. It is virtually impossible to play 12 months of high level soccer without risking health, injury, and love of the game.

One of the major problems is that many of the overuse injuries seem minor at the time but build up slowly as the winter season ends and the spring season starts. The injuries may come and go or change from one spot to another. This is a brutal injury cycle that does not allow the body to fully recover. This injury cycle can lead to frustration and loss of performance.

I am not saying that you should not have practices or even play games during the winter season but the emphasis should be on player development not winning a indoor session or indoor tournament.  This is also a great time to increase your overall all strength and speed for the spring season.

This is just the beginning of this topic for me,  as the winter season starts to ramp up more I will keep you posted on the observations of the athletes i am working with.

With the loss of Taylor Twellman and the other two top scorers can the NE Revolution make it to the finals?

I am not too sure about this move if the MLS decide to loan him. He would be playing a tremendous amount of soccer without a substantial break. If he does go my prediction is that he ends up getting hurt during the MLS season.  I don’t know?

What are your thoughts about the “temporary” move? Both for Beckham’s career and the MLS?

I am sick of seeing programs that say increase your vertical jump in 4 weeks or get faster in 4 weeks……….what happens after the 4 weeks? Does it stay, do they get hurt because all they did was jump for 4 weeks with no or little consideration of any of the other components of a good well rounded strength and conditioning program.

 I understand it is a marketing strategy but they market it like that because it works as a business sense but not for a young developing athlete. 

If any of you have stories about facilities or trainers you have been to that have not delivered i want to know so i can help you and help others develop strategies to find the right facility and or coach.

Soccer fitness is not just about speed because you need to have all the components of soccer fitness to be able to maximize your overall fitness level. This post may seem like a lot but as we continue I will break down each of the soccer fitness components into manageable pieces so don’t look at this list and say I will never be able to do all that.

In no particular order:

Speed

Agility

Quickness

Strength

Power

Metabolic Conditioning

Endurance

Nutrition

Rest & Recovery

Mental Fitness

Pre-Hab

Each of these components of soccer fitness play off of each other for instance less say you are fast when sprinting but your overall fitness level is low you may only be able to maintain your speed for a limited number of sprints….not a good thing if you want to play the entire game at the top level.