Fuel for Soccer Fitness

If you’re training for a sustained period of time – like during pre-season training – you’re putting a lot of stress on your body,

If you’re not fully accustomed to it you might get ill. The more you train the more vitamins and antioxidants you need, which means one thing: you need lots more fruit and vegetables.





Food for thought

Try and eat as many super-foods as possible. 

An easy way to spot a super-food is that they are often brightly 

colored – blueberries, tomatoes, beetroot, carrots, cherries and 

pomegranate. If you struggle to eat enough fruit, slip them into 

your daily diet by substituting your mid-afternoon 

chocolate for fruit.

Nothing beats pineapples


If you’re only going to eat one fruit make it pineapple. They have powerful anti-oxidants, and there’s much research supporting its role in helping repair muscle. When you exercise you add stress to your body and this suppresses your immune system. Pineapple provides anti-oxidants that boost your immunity.

Protein + carbs = fast recovery

Aside from fruit, you need a good balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat. Get the right balance for breakfast with brown toast, two poached eggs and beans. For lunch you might have brown pasta with chicken in a tomato sauce and a side salad. For dinner, opt for something like tuna steak and rice. The quality of protein from tuna is better than from many food sources, boosting muscle growth and recovery.

Don’t forget to drink

When active, you need 4-6 liters of water a day. 

Vision for Soccer

Vision is a crucial skill for a soccer player while in possession of the ball. Soccer vision is the ability to see defensive pressure and spot opportunities to pass to open teammates. Soccer vision must be developed in progressive stages, and a player must always have good technique to execute a pass, even if he has excellent vision.

Players who regularly work on their soccer vision skills will have an increased awareness of defensive pressure and also be able to see open teammates on a more consistent basis. The habit of constantly looking around the field before and after receiving the ball will develop over time and make a player more effective in possession for his team. Soccer vision training will also increase the confidence of a player, as knowing where opportunities exist and where defenders are makes keeping possession much easier.

Soccer vision training is an underused exercise in youth soccer. Vision is crucial in being effective with the ball. Regardless of how good technique is, players who force the ball into defensive pressure and do not see open teammates will not be as successful in game situations. Players with good soccer vision also increase the tactical flexibility, allowing their coach to make adjustments and know the players will see match-ups or areas of the field to attack.

Players develop at different rates, so one training session will not be enough to see total team improvement. Coaches should incorporate soccer vision training into all possession drills. Dedicating five or six sessions to possession drills, with an emphasis on vision, should develop positive results.

Passing and possession drills allow the coach to place an emphasis on soccer vision.

Coordination plyometrics exercises for youth development

As children grow, muscle coordination develops with everyday play and activities. Fine motor skills that allow a child to hold a spoon, pencil and color within the lines comes slowly but surely.

Coordination also gives children the ability to complete more complex tasks such as riding a bike, kicking a ball or participating in team sports. All children develop at different speeds, but parents can help this progress with simple activities and exercises.

Games present the optimal way to teach a child coordination skills. Games and play elevate a child's heart rate to an aerobic level. Running in circles in the front yard might seem fruitless and silly, but this typical activity actually goes some good. Running requires coordination and balance to keep from falling. Game time play can be one of the most effective types of coordination exercise.

Climbing on playground equipment provides plenty of exercise as well as coordination involving decision making and strength. As cliched as it sounds, sound bodies make sound minds. Children must master their physical bodies to be prepared to learn. Encourage playground play every day, if possible. Climbing, running, jumping and mastering the other challenges on the playground give a child incredible confidence.

Kids can enjoy functional fitness while improving their balance and speed. Plyometric fitness is a type of exercise that helps you jump higher, run faster and gets your heart rate up. It's known to be more effective than aerobic exercise and kids find it more enjoyable than simply jogging around a track.

Plyometrics is one of the most popular training methods to improve speed, power and jumping ability. For high school and college athletes, most coaches use lower and upper body plyometrics. But to give athletes a head start, many coaches are using plyometrics with kids in middle school and grade school.

One of the primary purposes of physical education is to learn basic movement skills such as running and jumping. From these general skills, the individual can move to more complex and specific skills that occur in sports.

Physical education should be approached like the study of mathematics – you must master one skill before proceeding to the next. This means that PE teachers must avoid the temptation to allow students to skip basic skill sets as they move through the curriculum. As with a math student needing extra tutoring to master a skill set, coaches should give these kids the extra attention they need to learn how to properly run, jump, tumble, kick and throw.

So what is plyometrics? Many coaches describe plyometrics as any activity that involves a rapid stretching of a muscle (eccentric phase) immediately followed by a rapid shortening of that muscle (concentric phase). The delay between the phases needs to be short, no longer than .25 seconds to use the energy stored during the eccentric phase. To achieve this effect, plyometrics requires a mechanical shock stimulation that stimulates the muscles to produce the highest levels of muscle tension as rapidly as possible. The dynamic nature of shock training creates two processes: 1) a reflex increase in muscle tension and 2) the release of elastic energy stored in the muscles and tendons.

There’s no doubt that plyometrics can be a great training method to help develop powerful athletes who can run faster and jump higher, but when it comes to younger athletes, there are special prerequisites. With kids, as always, safety comes first.

 

Staying In the Game Mentally - Goalkeeper

One of the most difficult aspects of being a goalkeeper is maintaining their focus throughout a game. It's so easy, when the ball is in the attacking half of the field to start to wander and watch games on other fields, or things that are happening in the stands etc.

The problem with a goalkeeper losing concentration is at that point, they are no longer helping their team. When keepers think of themselves as the last line of defense, they tend to relax when their team has the ball because they don't think of that as a part of the game they are involved with. However, this means that the goalkeeper is not going to be available to provide support or guidance for their teammates. Also, there is a good chance the keeper will be unprepared for a quick counter attack.

When a keeper understands the importance of staying involved throughout the entire game, the keeper is able to provide support and guidance to their teammates.

So the obvious question is, how does the keeper stay mentally connected throughout the game?

First, the keeper needs to stay close to the play. It's easy to do when the other team is attacking and putting pressure on the goalkeeper but when his team has the ball and is near the opponents 18, the keeper can't be standing back by his goal. As the ball goes further from the goal they are defending, the keeper should go out as well. When the ball is near the opponents 18, the keeper can go 30 yards out which makes it easier to stay connected. Plus, it allow the team to use the keeper on a back pass if necessary and it allows the keeper to be ready for a long clearance if the opponent suddenly wins the ball. Just by closing the distance between the keeper and the ball makes it much easier for the keeper to stay focused.

Another way to stay focused is through communication. When the keepers team has the ball, they can help their teammates out tremendously by telling them what to do (“play it wide”, “back”, “man on” etc). While the keeper has to be careful about talking too much (if a keeper talks constantly, the team will tend to “tune them out”) they can give guidance loudly and also talk to themselves the rest of the time (somewhat similar to announcing the game but only to them self). By doing this, they will help their teammates out and also stay focused throughout the entire match.

Another way to stay focused is to watch for tendencies of the opponents (and of your teammates). If you know what your opponent likes to do in a given situation, it's a lot easier to prepare to stop them (and at halftime, sharing these observations with your teammates will help them out as well). Knowing which player on the opponent wants to use their left foot exclusively and which player wants to chip everything is when you really start to make the transition for shot blocker to goalkeeper.

 

 

I frequently hear that “you have to be crazy to be a goalkeeper”. It's always been my opinion that you have to be extremely smart to be a high level goalkeeper as you have to make split second decisions on a regular basis. To train your mind to become a better goalkeeper, stay focused throughout the entire match and help yourself and your team become more successful.

 

 

Nutrition

Spring season is just started and activity will increase substantially to the athletes. For that matter, nutrition is an important part of the young athlete development and I would like to share some information that can improve their performance.

It is imperative that basic nutrition guidelines for young athletes be followed. This will help children to progress to their desirable potentials. Along with their improvement in performance, a healthy diet may reduce injury, reduce recovery time between competitions, make them feel better both physically and mentally, and create healthy eating habits for life.

The guidelines to youth sport nutrition focus on getting the athlete enough energy and the right kinds of energy for the rigorous demands on their active bodies. A child should always receive a good meal at least an hour or two before practice or competition. In addition, you must encourage your youth athlete to eat a lot of food frequently. They need more fuel than the normal adult population due to their growth alone, but when physical activity comes into play, an increased amount of energy is called for.

An effective way to ensure that your athlete does not go hungry is to place nonperishable items such as pretzels or sports bars in their bags or practice gear bags. Even extra calories, such as those found in fruits or sports drinks, during practice is highly recommended.

The food pyramid is an excellent guide for parents to follow when deciding on what to feed their young athletes. Youngsters should be ingesting plenty of carbohydrates with unsaturated fat. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and easily digestible foods are recommended. Junk foods, which are high in simple sugars and saturated fats, should be avoided, especially before activity. The sugars may create a quick burst of energy followed by a dive in energy levels. The fatty foods are hard to digest. For the adolescent athlete, it is important to watch calcium and iron levels. In periods of rapid growth, athletes are especially susceptible to deficiencies in these areas. Most importantly, proper hydration must be stressed. Dehydration greatly hampers performance and may even lead to heat stress or even heat stroke in extreme cases. Water (or sports drinks or diluted fruit juice) should always be on hand and readily available for young athletes at practices and competitions.

Lastly, refueling your athlete after activity is equally important but it is often overlooked. Nutritious meals help speed up the recovery process and replace nutrients that have been lost. If the athletes are rewarded for their performances in the way of sweets or fast food, it must be stressed that they should only receive these treats after their game and not as a replacement for regular meals. Following these guidelines will result in a youth athlete who can perform at optimal levels.

 

 

 

Youth Development

The development of youth soccer talent is an ongoing process, it is truly a long-term, evolutionary progression. It is a trajectory where individuals will progress gradually from simple to more complex experiences within the game. The process of soccer player development requires planning that has clearly defined goals and is based upon modern technical development ideas.

This plan and direction needs to come from the technical practitioners - coaches who are educated, experienced and knowledgeable. Anything less than a comprehensive and coordinated effort only means that soccer player development is left to chance, rather than being maximized by the coaching, program development, competition and well thought-out planning. This process cannot be rushed and it is not positively affected by “if this much is good, then more must be better.” The process of player development can be influenced by elements that are essential for effective player development.

In a club, structural development programming is needed to cover all the phases of player development. Age appropriate drills are essential to help to limit player frustration and at the same time, should challenge players to think out of their comfort zone. These conditions provide each player the opportunity to play soccer in a supportive and rewarding environment that emphasizes fun, enjoyment and skill development at a level that fits his/her interest and ability, and creates a challenging environment for the best players who aspire to reach their full potential.

It is essential to follow the assessment of the players by the coaches who know the individual players, knows the players stage of development and what should be done next. Often, this is overlooked and not given the appropriate attention in youth academies where there is a lack of a strong organization.

Also, the identification with the club needs to be strong. Players, parents, as well coaches should identify themselves with the club and feel they belong to the organization. Everyone has a role in the process of development and having a clear idea of the path the club will take will create chemistry among all parts.

For the greater good.

 

 

Coach Sergio Taborda is a native of Portugal and has more than 26 years of soccer experience in professional leagues, playing 15 years in European clubs in Portugal and Germany.

Coach Taborda has developed players around the World. From Portugal to Brazil, Angola to Miami and now in Boston, Coach Taborda is involved with Boston Soccer Academy.

Portuguese F.A. - U.S.S.F National License/I.C.A. - International Academy Course/ Fitness and Conditioning by Roger Spry