Coaches Clinic Notes
Conducted by Bruce Stapleton

Conditioning for Peak Soccer Performance

Facts:

• Few sports require the degree of aerobic and anaerobic fitness, combined with the ability to withstand sometimes violent collisions, needed to compete at soccer’s highest levels.
  
• You cannot play yourself into shape. Soccer is a demanding sport that requires a certain level of cardiovascular and anaerobic fitness,
  
• Treating younger players (under the age of 14) as miniature adults and making them perform high intensity conditioning drills (sprints, jumping, heavy weight training) provides little to no conditioning improvements and in many cases causes burnout or injury
  
• Speed is important however, quickness, agility, strength and endurance play just as much of a role to overall performance
  
• Mental conditioning and mind/body awareness are an important component of a comprehensive conditioning program and have proven to significantly improve performance
  
• Proper nutrition and hydration play an important role in overall athletic performance. Proper nutrition can improve performance by over 180%. Depriving water or liquids to "toughen-up" an athlete during practice provides no advantage and on the contrary, reduces their ability to perform.

• Endurance – endurance is important for maintaining overall performance and allowing a player to effectively execute the skills required. Fatigue can lead to impaired ball control and even injury. A player must have the ability to constantly be running into open spaces demanding the ball or pulling and committing opposing players to create openings.
  
• Coordination and body movement – neuro-muscular coordination has a lot to do with how effective your muscles work together as a set. Twisting, turning while dribbling, readjusting your body to control an awkward bouncing ball, and getting up quickly after a tackle take good body control. Proper conditioning training must be included with your skill and tactical training.
  
• Strength and Control– strength is important in your ability to use your body to win physical confrontations. Strength is required during tackling (1 vs.1), winning aerial duels (heading) and changing direction effectively. Train for power and control not how much weight you can lift. Also train for overall muscle balance and control. Over-training quadriceps, for example, can cause knee and ankle problems if hamstrings are not trained to provide overall leg stability and balance.
  
• Core Strength and balance – hip flexors, abdominal, and back muscles must be strong and supporting lower and upper extremity muscles. The amount of coordination in turns, jumps and kicks is directly related to the muscle strength and balance of the core structure.
  
• Speed – speed takes many forms in soccer including pure straight ahead running speed, lateral speed (changing direction), change of speed (slow to fast, etc.) and deceleration (stopping on a dime). Speed (anaerobic training) must be done with and without the ball. However, intense speed training should not be used with younger players or to compensate for poor passing and execution.
  

1. Age of the athlete. Review the athletes ability to execute simple exercises and conditioning routines. Anatomical (body structure, size, etc.) and biological (emotional and physical maturity) play a larger role in how you should condition an athlete than their chronological age. Athletes 13-14 years old can be as much as 6-8 years difference in physical development.
   
2. Time of year or sports season – training during the season will obviously be different than preseason training. The important fact is that conditioning should be a year round endeavor. Your training program will be changed and modified but should never end. Players that do not train during the season lose their performance levels and cannot compete at their best. Remember -- you can’t get in shape by just playing soccer.
   
3. Primary position played – Keepers obviously need a different training program than defenders or forwards. Also, for example, centerbacks and strikers jump to head the ball 20 times more a game in comparison to other positions and their conditioning should accommodate their specific requirements.
   
4. Overall condition of the individual – "one-size-fits-all" conditioning programs do not work. You intend to condition your athletes for peak performance and you end up over-training some and under-training others. By understanding each individuals specific requirements allows you to maximize the effectiveness of the overall team.
   

• Providing an effective soccer conditioning program is a comprehensive process and should incorporate five main elements

1. Bompa, Tudor, Total Training for Young Champions, Human Kinetics, 2000.
2. Stahl, Roby, ""How Coaches Assess Players," OSYSA, ODP Program, 2001.
3. Reilly, Tom, "The Physiological Demands of Football," INSIGHT, The F. A. Coaches Association Journal, 1, (Autumn 1997), 17.
4. Grant, Andy, "Worldwide Report on Science and Football Research," INSIGHT, The F. A. Coaches Association Journal, 1, (Winter 1997/ 8), 19.
5. Bangsbo, Jens, "Performance Testing in Soccer, ," INSIGHT, The F. A. Coaches Association Journal, 2, (Winter 1998), 21.