Soccer Drills and Practice Plans for your youth soccer team
Measure Pre-Season Conditioning Levels
Today soccer is more of a speed and power game and by doing these tests you will discover your soccer players’ strengths and weaknesses. No longer are you sending your players out for a thirty to forty minute “conditioning” run /jog. Regardless if you coach high school, rep or provincial/state soccer these are 5 basic tests you may apply to your players. Get more soccer conditioning ideas
1) Standing Long Jump: This simple test is a good indicator of power. All you need to do is mark a line on a field or go to the sideline of a soccer field and use the marking their. Your players simply try to jump as far as they can. Give them each 2-3 attempts
2) 10 Metre Sprint: This test evaluates your soccer players’ acceleration and quickness.
3) 40 Metre Sprint: This test gives you an idea of your players speed potential. Most soccer players reach full speed between 40 -60 metres.
4) T – Agility Run: This test gives an idea how well your soccer players are can stop and change direction.
You need four cones for this drill. Put one cone down then measure 5 metres from that cone. Put the next cone down at the 10 meter mark. Now place a cone on each side of the second cone 5 metres apart.
The Drill: Sprint forwards five metres. Once you reach that cone put one cone hand on it then shuffle five yards to the right and touch that cone. Then side shuffle left 10 metres to the furthest cone and touch it as well. Then shuffle ten metres to the right and touch the cone in the middle. Finally sprint backwards for five metres.
5a) Beep Test: The beep test is an overall good fitness test for your player.
To perform this test you will need either the CD or Tape for the timed intervals of the test and cones outlining a twenty meter distance
How it Works: Players start on a beep and run/jog twenty meters and wait until the next beep. The time between beeps is less as the test progresses.
Players continue until they no longer reach the twenty meter mark before the beep.
“Apparently” David Beckham in his prime could complete the entire beep test for all 23 levels. Best conditioned athletes on average reach above the 14th level and below the 16th level. I have personally observed a 19 old year old male soccer player reach level 14.
5b) Timed 300 Metre Shuttle: This a good test to include or use in place of the beep test.
Mark a distance of either 25 0r 50 meters. If the distance is 25 metres the players need to shuttle back and forth six times or three times if the distance is 50 metres. This is a very demanding test. I suggest that you leave this test to the very end and only test it once.
Generally when you do any testing you do your power and speed tests before conditioning tests. For example on one day you could do the standing long jump, 10M, 40 and beep test and two days later do the T-agility test followed by the 300meter shuttle run.
In coaching soccer I believe it is important to know what your player’s fitness levels are to help you with playing time, off season conditioning and in season training. Good luck with your soccer team this season. Turn your players into unstoppable speed demons
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The biggest mistake I see most coaches make is sending their players for a twenty to forty minute run to build an aerobic base. This jog places consistent stress on both the muscles and bones of the young body.
It has been my experience that over 95% of the over use injuries that I have treated came from players who competed in cross country at school or were “jogging” to get into condition. Here is a better way to get your players into shape.
Soccer is a game of spurts of high intense work intervals with active rest periods. Both the energy system and the muscular system need to be trained according to the demand of the game regardless of the age of player.
Soccer conditioning and training for younger players can be in the form of tag or obstacle courses that may be done with or with out the ball. The key at this age is fun.
It is also important to focus on acceleration. It is important for physical development that these young players train for acceleration and speed. The type of physical training a young soccer player completes has a long term effect on athletic development.
Sending younger players out for a fifteen to twenty minute jog teaches them to become slow! The running mechanics for distance is different than it is for acceleration and speed.
Distance runners use a smaller range of motion at the hip as compared to athletes who sprint. This is one reason why they are more likely to pull a muscle or develop over use injuries than a sprinter.
Next, distance runners have less intensity in their runs as compared to sprinters. Thus for youth soccer conditioning and training for anaerobic and aerobic energy systems relays are excellent because young players naturally run fast to win and develop more range of motion at the hip in the process of their sprints.
At the younger ages it is important to develop proper running technique. As youth soccer players get older strength determines how fast they run. The player who applies greater force into the ground will be faster. Get more conditioning coaching advice
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Regardless if you play recreational soccer, are a soccer coach or a parent with a child involved in soccer, it is important for you to know how to train for soccer fitness properly.
Unfortunately there are still people out there who lack the current information on fitness training for soccer and suggest running to get into shape for soccer. This is fine if soccer was played at a steady pace and the movement of the game was in one direction. Obviously you and I know this is not the case.
It does not matter the level of soccer, house league, rep, state/provincial, national, men’s or women’s recreational soccer, you must train the energy, muscular and nervous systems they way they are needed in a soccer game.
Soccer is a game of sprints, stops/starts, change of direction and recovery. It is not played at a steady pace.
It is still thought that all you have to do is go for a run for your soccer fitness because the run is “aerobic”.
This information may be outdated for the following reasons:
1. Running is in only direction – forward. Running is with out any stops, starts, change of direction and sprints.
2. Running teaches the muscles work in a forward direction. You must remember that in a soccer game, the body moves in many different directions. Again this does not happen in a run.
3. Running is set at a certain pace. Soccer is filled with bursts of energy and recovery. Again this does not happen in a run.
4. The range of motion at the hip is limited in a run to a set pace. In a soccer game the hip moves in many different directions and at different speeds. This is why some soccer players end up with pulled or torn hamstrings, quads or groin muscles if they only run for soccer fitness.
5. Running trains the body to move at a set pace. The brain is programmed to move at this pace and not any higher. Then when you go for a sprint or sudden stop or a change of direction the body does not have any idea what to do. This usually ends up in an injury.
To better serve your soccer fitness you must look at other methods for training. One of the most effective ways to train for soccer conditioning is through intervals. Basically you work hard for a short period of time and then recover and repeat the process for a specific time. This type of training is excellent for soccer fitness because it relates to the energy out put in a soccer game.
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In today’s game of soccer the pace is often very quick and fast. Players need to have both good technical skills and speed to be effective on the soccer field.
The simplest way to train for soccer speed and soccer fitness is to have drills that imitate or mimic the actions on the field.
If you take a close look at any soccer game it has three active fitness parts to it. They are sprint, jog and walk. So the best way to train for this is to include it in training in either an off season strength and conditioning program or during practice.
Developing soccer speed and fitness takes time as you need to build a solid strength base. You must also be aware of wild claims of achieving “amazing” speed results at the end of a seven day training program.
Building total body strength starts with a solid strength and conditioning program in the off season. This will significantly improve your soccer fitness and soccer speed.
Your off season soccer conditioning should include days of interval training and days of speed training. This is the best way to develop both soccer cardio for aerobic fitness and acceleration for speed development.
An example of a soccer fitness interval at the beginning of the off season would be an all out sprint for 30 seconds followed by 60 to 90 seconds of walking for recovery for twenty minutes. This work to rest ratio is 1 to 2 or 1 to 3. This eventually will progress to 30 seconds sprint and 30 seconds rest for twenty minutes.
Next you could focus on sprinting on another day with 10, 20 or 30 metre sprints. The recovery “rule ‘ is one minute for every 10 metre sprint. So if you sprint for 20 metres your rest period would be 2 minutes. This is excellent for off season training; however there are some simple drills you can do during the soccer season to work on soccer fitness and soccer speed.
Putting teams together in 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5 for small sided games is a great way to maintain current levels of fitness. If you struggle for fitness this is an excellent way to help motivate and challenge you to improve upon your soccer fitness. The small sided games allow for soccer fitness conditioning with a ball. Players love this because they feel that they are not working, just having fun.
Overlapping runs with a soccer ball is a great way to improve speed. This occurs because the drill very closely mimics the game.
In conclusion it is important to focus on both intervals and sprints in the off season to be soccer fit and fast for your next soccer season. Read more about soccer conditioning
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Girls Soccer – 5 Tips to Prevent Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears in Female Soccer Players
Girl’s soccer has picked up in popularity in North America over the last ten years. Unfortunately there is a high incidence of anterior cruciate ligament tears with young female soccer players as well.
It is shocking to know that a female soccer player as young as 12 years old CAN suffer an ACL tear.
There are several “theories’ as to the cause of this injury in girl’s soccer. They range from the ligament itself being weaker than that of boys, muscle imbalances, poor landing and poor coordination. On the bright side there are exercises and drills that maybe done by girls who play soccer to minimize the chance of tearing their ACL.
Tip 1: Build Hip Strength
Exercises like the front squat emphasize the work of the buttocks muscle. Young female soccer players need to hip dominant strong. This takes away some of the pressure from the knees. The key in this exercise is to drive from the heel.
Tip 2: Build Single Leg Strength
An exercise like the single leg squat is excellent for building strength, power and endurance. Remember in a soccer game most of it is played on leg.
Tip 3: Jump Training
A proper progressive plyometric training program teaches the body how to land properly on one or two feet. Many ACL injuries in girl’s soccer occur because they do not know how to land properly.
Tip 4: Build A Solid Core
Building the muscles around the hip helps to stabilize pelvis and restrict unnecessary movement of the pelvic bones. This includes training the deep stomach (abdominal) muscles. A beginner exercise would the pelvic tilt. The player lies on her back with feet flat and knees bent. She then tightens the stomach and buttocks muscles at the same time for a six second hold. This is repeated eight to ten times.
Tip 5: Proper conditioning
It is vital the girls playing soccer are properly conditioned. Sending girls out for a 20 to 30 minute jog for soccer fitness makes them both weaker and slower. They need to do some form of interval training. This type of training minimizes fatigue. One of the nice benefits of interval training is fat loss.
In summary it is important that girls playing soccer to know what it takes off the field to prevent ACL injuries on the field. These tips make a big difference in game performance for young female soccer players. These exercises may be done at the field or the in comfort of home. Get more strength training tips for being faster and avoiding injury
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