The ability to sprint, decelerate, and then re-accelerate with in a short distance is the money spot when applying agility drills for soccer.

In the video below Michael Cano of ONEighty Athletics shows you four different  2-cone agility drills that you can incorporate into your practices or your off-season training program.

Coach Cano also offers a free Ultimate Speed Training eBook full of great tip to improve your team’s speed.

The YouTube video has audio, so please make sure that your volume is turned up and that you have access to the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube.

Avoid the mistake of over training your athletes.  How do you determine their level of fatigue and how do you adjust their training?

In the video clip below Ryan Spencer, Human Performance Specialist, discusses the pitfalls of overtraining  your athletesAll coaches need to be constantly watching their players in regards to how they are handling fatigue throughout the season. A common mistake is to not watch players before or after practice sessions as they are either warming up or cooling down. These are some of the best times to really watch a player in how they are moving and also interacting with teammates. This classroom session describes different techniques and ways to help monitor your players in regards to overtraining.

A very simple way to monitor your players is to have a simple conversation and ask them to rate their overall fatigue and muscle soreness on a scale of 1-10. If you take the numbers from all of your players and average them together, you can get a good idea and sense of how the team is feeling. This also helps judge whether the intensity of the practice sessions needs to be increased or decreased moving forward. This could be done as often as you like whether it be daily, every 2-3 days, or weekly to check the players.

A common problem for coaches is to try and push too hard, too early in the season. Players will not get in game shape in a couple days or even a couple weeks. It takes several weeks or months for some with consistent training to reach a high conditioning level. A player’s health and safety should always be your number one priority as a coach. As much as we all want to have every player in the best shape possible so we have a team that is fit and prepared, this rarely happens and is not worth taking a risk such as pushing a player to run more or do extra conditioning if they are struggling to make it through a practice session.

Ryan Spencer’s presentation was delivered at a recent Glazier Soccer Clinic. For information about how to gain access to his entire presentation, as well as hundreds of other clinic presentations, click the link Glazier Soccer Clinic

The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your volume is turned up and that you have access to the site. Note some schools block access to YouTube.

This article was provided by Training-Conditioning

By Jane Koeniges and Pete Koeniges

They’re your last line of defense. They can make bad teams good and good teams great. The best ones can take over an entire game by themselves.

There is no other athlete quite like the goalkeeper. In soccer, ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey, they’re the most important people on the pitch, rink, or field. The physical and mental demands of the position set them apart from their teammates–yet all too often, they don’t have a conditioning program that reflects those unique demands.

To experience maximum performance benefits from training, goalies need to exercise differently than offensive and defensive “field players.” They need to focus more on certain aspects of strength and conditioning and less on others.

Soccer is a sport where proper nutrition greatly affects performance. During a game, the average player will cover five to seven miles and needs to be energized for both endurance and repeated energy bursts. Games last 90 minutes with few opportunities to refuel. And players sometimes compete in two games over a three-day period, further emphasizing their nutritional needs.

The key fueling source for a high intensity, maximal-outburst activity such as soccer is carbohydrates. More precisely, carbohydrates should represent at least 55 percent of calories eaten. Consuming adequate amounts of carbohydrate maintains training intensity and promotes rapid recovery.

However, many soccer athletes simply don’t consume enough carbohydrates, which can lead to early fatigue and decreased performance. Studies have shown that the diets of soccer players are not much different from the general public. And when athletes are balancing sport with study and social activities, they sometimes say they just don’t have time to eat enough high-quality carbs.

The sample diet below is for a female soccer player who is also involved in many extracurricular activities. “I really don’t have time to stop and think about what I’m eating,” she says. “I need to grab something on the run.”

For her, we started with a little education. We explained that carbohydrate-containing foods should be eaten at each meal and also before, during, and after exercise.

• At meals, carbohydrates should take up about two-thirds of the plate.
• Pre-game carbohydrates should be consumed to help delay fatigue.
• Sports drinks should be consumed during competition to help the body maintain energy late in the contest.
• Carbohydrates should also be eaten within the first 30 minutes after games and practices to improve muscle glycogen storage, which will ensure adequate energy for the next practice or competition.

While focusing on carbohydrates, soccer players still need to consume adequate protein and fat. Protein has a role in muscle growth and repair and in boosting the immune system. The main sources should be low-fat dairy, chicken, fish, and lean cuts of beef and pork.

Fat has a bad reputation for increasing weight and disease risks, but eating too little may impair performance. Fat is the primary energy source for low- and moderate-intensity exercise. A diet high in animal fats is not the goal. Athletes should strive to include healthy fats from nuts, seeds, and fatty fish such as salmon every day.

Hydration is another important goal for our busy soccer athlete. Here are the tips we provide for proper hydration:

Pre-hydrate: Drink 16 to 20 ounces of water two to three hours before practice or competition. Drink eight ounces of water or sports drink 10 to 20 minutes before practice or competition.

Hydrate: Drink sports drinks during practice or competition, and don’t wait until you’re thirsty.

Re-hydrate: Drink 20 to 24 ounces of water or sports drink for every pound of weight lost.

Athletes’ bodies function best when fueled throughout the day, so we advised this athlete to eat a meal or snack every two to four hours. We also told her that a little pre-planning can help her reach these nutritional goals, without taking up much time at all:

• Bowls of cereal are quick and nutritious.
• Fruits such as bananas take no preparation time and are easy to pack. Grapes and apples are another good suggestion as all they need are a quick rinse in the sink.
• Taking five minutes in the morning to pack some snacks and lunch for later in the day is key. Investing in an insulated lunch pack and a small freezer bag ensures that foods needing refrigeration can also be included.
• A nutritious dinner can also be prepared quickly. Boiling some spaghetti, heating up prepared sauce and a chicken breast, and adding a prepackaged salad to the plate is quick, easy, and healthy.MEAL PLAN: SOCCER

  Breakfast:
  1 1/2 cups raisin bran
  8 ounces skim milk or soy milk
  1/2 cup grapes

  Morning Snack:
  1 chewy granola bar
  1 medium banana
  1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts

  Lunch:
  2 slices whole wheat bread
  2 Tbsp. peanut butter
  1 Tbsp. jelly
  1 medium apple
  8 ounces sports drink

  Pre-Practice Snack:
  1 1/2 ounces pretzels

  Post-Practice Recovery Snack:
  20 ounces sports drink
  1 piece light string cheese

  Dinner:
  2 cups spaghetti noodles
  1/2 cup marinara sauce
  3 ounce chicken breast
  2 cups salad
  2 Tbsp. Italian dressing
  8 ounces skim milk or soy milk

  Late Night Snack:
  3/4 cup frosted mini wheats
  8 ounces skim milk or soy milk
  1 medium banana

This article was provided by Coaches Network

In the pursuit of making athletes bigger, stronger, and faster, today’s strength and conditioning coaches and sport coaches are faced with many obstacles. Outside the realms of program design and individual instruction, a coach is challenged with scheduling, staffing, and time constraints. A constant question is: With a limited amount of time to spend with athletes, which conditioning components take precedent?

More often than not, flexibility is the first component that ends up being neglected. However, many athletes today have very poor flexibility, and ignoring this can make your entire strength program inefficient.

WHY STRETCH?

Why is flexibility so important? Without adequate range of motion, an athlete will not get the most out of a strength program. When an athlete begins Olympic lifting, they usually exhibit common technical faults. Errors include improper back position, incorrect weight distribution, excessive trunk flexion, and poor knee tracking. These errors are directly related to lack of flexibility in the hips, upper and lower legs, and shoulders.

Increased flexibility in the hips, shoulders, and lower legs can dramatically increase the athlete’s practical range of motion. This increased ROM then allows the athlete to move more efficiently in their Olympic lifting sessions.

Greater flexibility also improves speed and agility. Most athletes have some technical flaws in their running and movement mechanics, and without adequate flexibility, fixing those flaws is difficult. For an athlete to powerfully accelerate, quickly decelerate, and efficiently change directions, they must be able to lower their center of gravity and manipulate their limbs with little to no internal resistance. Flexibility is the key to proficiently and efficiently executing these biomechanics.

A flexible athlete is also less likely to become injured. Functional flexibility allows athletes to move fluidly and efficiently without resistance into athletic positions. When a certain joint or joint complex is limited in range by tightness, the athlete is limited in function and there is increased risk of injury.

Above all, athletes who can sprint without having their stride length limited by tight hamstrings, hip flexors, or anterior shoulders, and who can quickly drop their center of gravity in the acceleration or deceleration phase uninhibited by tight hip rotators, are athletes who can perform closer to their greatest athletic potential.

When athletes have poor flexibility, many coaches simply tell them to stretch on their own without any instruction or supervision. This is where a strength and conditioning program can break down. The strength coach or sport coach needs to provide a specific program for the athletes and make sure that the athletes know proper stretching technique.

Todd Rice, currently the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of Pittsburgh and formerly at Boston College, takes a proactive approach to increasing an athlete” flexibility. Todd’s program primarily employs active isolated stretching principles (AIS). AIS is the innervating of a muscle (the agonist) to contract resulting in the opposite muscle (the antagonist) becoming inhibited and relaxed. The principle of reciprocal inhibition allows the muscle to lengthen without evoking a stretch-reflex contraction. This creates greater muscle length without any associated micro-trauma.

In Todd’s program, athletes stretch one muscle group at a time, thus actively contracting the muscle opposite the targeted group. The muscle is stretched gently (not to full range or discomfort) for two to three seconds. The stretch is released before the muscle senses the stretch and utilizes the protective contraction, facilitated by the excitatory proprioceptor, or the “The Muscle Spindle.” This is repeated four to 12 times each session.

Some of the stretches are performed with partners and others are conducted without assistance. At the beginning of each season, the coaches do more of the stretching to assure proper form and execution. Once the athletes learn the stretches, they stretch each other while the coaches supervise.

Below is a sampling of some of the stretches used in Todd’s program. Note that the first three are part of the “Sprinters Series,” which develops flexibility in the deep rotators of the hips. Each of these three stretches are done twice, first with active static stretching for 30 seconds, and then again for four to 12 reps with AIS.

Single-Leg Stretch: In this stretch, the athlete lies supine with the left leg straight and the right knee bent into the chest with the foot externally rotated and dorsiflexed. A partner kneels on his or her right knee facing the athlete, and places their right hand above the athlete’s left knee on the thigh to minimize iliopsoas shortening. The partner places their left hand below the athlete’s left bent knee with the athlete’s right foot on the partner’s abdomen, and the partner applies pressure down (toward the floor) and back (toward the shoulder). The process is repeated for the other leg.

Double-Leg Heels on Thighs: Have the athlete lie supine with both knees bent in toward the chest. The feet are externally rotated and dorsiflexed and in line with the knees. The athlete places his heels low on the partner’s thighs. The partner faces the athlete, takes a wide stance, and applies pressure down and back with hands low on the hamstrings.

The athlete should visualize and try to focus on the six deep rotators (piriformis, gemellus superior, gemellus inferior, obturator internus, obturator externus, and quadratus femoris), which collectively originate from the inferior lateral portion of the sacrum and various portions of the ischium and insert on the greater trochanter. With this focus, the athlete should be able to contract the deep rotators through external rotation of the hips. This contraction technique takes both time and good instruction to accomplish.

Double-Leg Feet on Shins: This stretch is quite similar to the heels on thighs stretch. With the legs wider and lower than with the heels on thighs stretch, this movement involves both the deep rotators and the adductor complex.

Hamstring Stretch: Lying on his or her back, the athlete lifts the right leg up to their potential range of motion either with a stretch rope or with assistance from a partner, and straightens the left leg. They first contract the quadriceps muscle group and pull with the hip flexors, then stretch the hamstrings for two to three seconds. This is repeated four to 12 times. Dorsiflexion of the foot will incorporate the gastroc and soleus complex, where plantar flexion will isolate the hamstrings.

Four-Point Lateral External Rotator: This stretch is often performed incorrectly. To start, the athlete gets into the “all fours” position, with knees and forearms on the floor. The athlete allows the knees to spread until a comfortable adductor stretch is achieved. The main focus of this stretch is for the athlete to push his or her hips straight back focusing on the deep rotators of the hips. The buttocks do not move inferior, but slide straight back. Normal range of motion is minimal.

The intent of this stretch is to target the pectineus and the iliacus muscles, which are internal hip rotators. Since both muscles insert on and just below the lesser trochanter of the femur, it is important to keep the pelvis neutral and the back flat while pushing the pelvis away from the femur.

Hip Flexor Stretch: The lunging hip flexor stretch is performed by the athlete on both sides of the body. The left leg is extended into the lunge position with the knee over the arch of the foot, yet not protruding over the toes. The right leg is extended straight back with the weight on the toes. It is very important that the athlete’s back is flat and the torso is upright.

This stretch is enhanced and can be active static if the athlete contracts his or her right gluteus maximus muscle to incorporate reciprocal inhibition for the iliopsoas muscle (iliacus and psoas major and minor). Because the psoas major and iliacus portions of the iliopsoas complex insert on the lesser trochanter, slight internal rotation of the right hip (by pointing the toes in 20 degrees) will lengthen the iliopsoas and increase the stretch.

After these static and active isolated stretches are completed, athletes perform a dynamic flexibility warm up. These exercises consist of knee tucks, butt kicks, triples, walking lunges, and hip rotators, among others.

Flexibility training does not start and end with increasing the athlete’s range of motion. With a program in place that incorporates flexibility training into a full strength and conditioning regimen, your athletes will be able to successfully complete their strength and speed workouts, and they’ll carry these improved fitness levels onto the fi