I don’t know a thing about you, but I’ll bet that most people see athletic ability of players in soccer practice as a natural, inborn talent. Although the capacity is mostly inherent, the majority of soccer fitness mechanisms can be taught to players to lift up the level of their game to a higher level.
To come up with an efficient soccer training plan, first understand what the demands of the game are. The game of soccer is based on a variety of fitness components. These include flexibility, steadiness, strength, control, speed, dexterity, and stamina.
You can adjust each component in your practice schedule depending on its importance in comparison to others. But it must be noted that training all the components will have an energizing effect on the player’s performance.
In soccer drills, let’s take a closer look at the given fitness components in order to know their relation with the player’s performance. In the game of soccer, there are some movements that need a wide variety of actions. In soccer practice, this accounts for the main reason why flexibility training must be practiced daily.
It will take some time for the rewards of improved flexibility and mobility to show. It’s always easy to maintain flexibility than developing it.
In coaching soccer, lessons on maintaining a full range of movement will help generate high level performance on the soccer field. In most cases, practice daily all such flexibility drills which incorporate sprinting, jumping, and kicking the ball. Since much of the game is reactive, increase in flexibility will also give the players capacity to respond quickly in several directions.
Goalkeepers take up a large space on the field from all possible angles. So, they need a lot of variety in movements. Midfielders who possess the ball also need to do a lot of different maneuvers on the field. Attacking players have the advantage because they can move when they maneuver the ball among opponents.
When the body is flexible, you can move your body over an increased range as also prevent injury. In a practice session, the focus is to prevent injuries at all costs. Flexibility acts as a reliever in situations where increased play leads to exhaustion and strains. Subsequently, cool down routines using mainly stationary stretches help the players recuperate.
Due to less or no flexibility in soccer coaching, fitness is greatly affected. Increased flexibility can also help you build strength through a larger range of movement. An additional performance benefit that can get better through increased flexibility is speed. With agility in your hip, knee, and ankle joints, you will be able to quicken your pace during sprinting.
In conclusion, always remember that being flexible in soccer practice sessions requires a progressive and a regular routine. This is possible only if you include games and drills in your routine that encourage flexible movements.
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Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Training Drills.
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