Tag Archives for " Fitness "

0 #229 Getting FIT at Home with Rise Futbol

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0 Finishing with Fitness

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Women’s Soccer Coach – Georgia Gwinnett College This session combines finishing and fitness into one activity. Set-Up You will have players group on each flank as well as paired up on cones in the

2 Fitness Options with the Ball

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Women’s Soccer Coach – Georgia Gwinnett College In these activities we are working on players improving their fitness and technical proficiency at the same time. FITNESS OPTIONS WITH THE BALL Set-Up 20 x

0 Pre-Game 1: Quick Shot Parade

By Jason Stockman - One of the most important things players do is pre-game warmups. At younger ages this helps focus the players on soccer for the next hour and gets their blood moving; as players get older it becomes even more important to warmup to help stave off injuries (as well as get focused).

1 Penalty Box Fitness - Part 2

By Jason Stockmann - In Part 1 of this two-part series on goalkeeper fitness, we looked at how by having only a penalty box and some cones, a keeper can work on improving their speed and dexterity all while becoming more spatially aware of their primary zone of influence on a field. In Part 2 we

3 Penalty Box Fitness - Part 1

By Jason Stockmann - Everyone knows fitness is key for a soccer player – very few sports exact the levels of endurance, stamina, speed and dexterity that the beautiful game demands. Though a goalkeeper may not need to reach the same level of endurance or stamina his or her field player counterparts hit, they definitely have

0 Finishing and Fitness Exercises

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Women’s Soccer Coach – Georgia Gwinnett College These activities utilize various methods of physical and mental training combined with finishing repetitions applicable to the game. Activity 1 Players will begin in one of

0 Fitness and Skills Testing

In next week's podcast on CoachingSoccerWeekly.com I discuss the preseason training routine that I perscribe for my players. One way to ensure that they actually DO the preparation is to test them at the start of the season. I also test them at the end of the season.

I use the testing put together by AthleteFIT.com. There are six tests; one fitness test, three skills tests and two speed tests.

I've found these to be a great indicator of how ready my players are to train. The test we do at the end of the season also tell me if what we have done has improved the players technically and physically. There is only so much we can do to improve speed, you either have it or you don't but one of the

0 Penalty Box Fitness - Part 1

By Jason Stockmann - Everyone knows fitness is key for a soccer player – very few sports exact the levels of endurance, stamina, speed and dexterity that the beautiful game demands. Though a goalkeeper may not need to reach the same level of endurance or stamina his or her field player counterparts hit, they definitely have

0 Goalkeeping Specific Fitness Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, fitness and balance.

There are still too many coaches who think that running laps is an effective way to work on fitness. Others lean toward full field or half field sprints. The problem with this type of fitness work is, while there is a place for it, it’s not the type of movement that a keeper does. Keepers do a lot of forward and backward movement but more in the 5 yard range as opposed to the 50 yard range. This is an activity to work on the type of fitness and movement that is more applicable for keepers.

Start with 6 cones staggered in two lines 5 yards apart. The keepers start in a line at one end and there is a server 10 yards from the last cone, on the other end.

One thing to emphasize from the very beginning is

0 Change of Direction Dives

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves fitness, agility, change of direction and extension dives.

Start with a keeper in the center of the goal with 4 low hurdles between the center and a post. There is also a flag on the 6 even with that post. There is a server 10 yards from goal on the end line.

The keeper begins by jumping over each hurdle (sideways), touches the near post and then

0 Extension Diving Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on catching, footwork, extension dives and a bit of fitness.

Start with a keeper in goal and servers 12 yards from each post on the end line. These servers each have a ball in their hands. A third server is 15 yards out with balls.

The keeper starts by sprinting to the post closest to

0 Explosiveness, Fitness and Diving For Goalkeepers

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on explosiveness, fitness and diving.

Start with 3 hurdles in a line, one yard apart (the height can vary based on the size of the keepers and what you have available). A keeper starts behind the first hurdle and a server is 10 yards in front of the last hurdle with some balls.

The keeper jumps off of both feet and goes over the first hurdle and then quickly

0 Goalkeeper Exercise For Strength and Balance

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on strength, balance, catching and a little bit of fitness.

Start with a keeper and a server 10 yards apart. The server has a ball in his hands.

For a one minute period the server volleys balls to the keeper who catches and then

2 Eight-Cone Goalkeeper Drills

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on fitness, footwork and catching

Start with 8 cones 1 yard apart in a line. They are numbered 1-8 as shown in the diagram below.

A keeper starts in front of cone 1 and one server starts

4 Ball Orientated Conditioning

During the summer I spend some time combing through new training ideas for the upcoming year. As I begin to assemble my training calendar for the fall I'm always on the lookout for economical drills and exercises that incorporate conditioning aspects along with technical and tactical elements. With only two days of training per week, I don't want to spend 30 minutes just training conditioning to get my players fit for soccer again after the summer break.

With my older teams (U13 to U18) I hold a series of preseason conditioning sessions to give the players a base of fitness that we can work from. With my younger teams (U8 to U12)

0 Goalkeeper Drill for Conditioning and Shot Blocking

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible. Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on fitness, footwork and shot blocking Start with a keeper in a goal and a server 15 years away with some balls. The keeper starts by sliding, side to side, to one goal post He then slides to

1 Maintaining Soccer Fitness Indoor

The indoor season provides a change of pace and focus that I think is good for player development but you don’t want to completely lose the base of fitness that was built during the outdoor season. The challenge is that you have a limited amount of space to work with when you’re training indoor. We

0 Maintaining Soccer Fitness Indoor

The indoor season provides a change of pace and focus that I think is good for player development but you don't want to completely lose the base of fitness that was built during the outdoor season. The challenge is that you have a limited amount of space to work with when you're training indoor. We use a school gym, and a small one at that. I look for exercises that mimic the movement patterns of the game while using space as economically as possible.

The warm-up below is from Dave Tenney

0 Game Speed Test Developmental Report

Today's post is from our Soccer Conditioning Expert, Scott Moody at SoccerFIT Academy. I've posted some of their information on speed, fitness and agility testing in the past because I think Scott is on the leading edge of soccer conditioning in the U.S. and I work with him through our Sporting Affiliate Club in Overland Park, KS. Here is his latest update on the testing they have been doing with clubs and coaches around the world. I thought you'd find it interesting and helpful especially since there's no cost to test your players and see how they stack up. It's also a great evaluation tool that can be used to assess the progress of the players over the course of a season, year or career.

We now have over 700 coaches in 30 countries using the SoccerFIT Game Speed Test to evaluate their players and teams. Some of the college coaches have found the test a very useful preseason tool, as it shows strengths and weaknesses in SKILL, SPEED and FITNESS, and can quickly show where you are strong (and weak) as a team. We continue to support all programs using our test with eBooks and clinics that highlight our systematic approach of blending the physical aspects with the technical aspects to create a more applicable (and efficient) way to integrate speed, agility and fitness into normal practice sessions.

On the club level we have started testing all the teams and players in various clubs to create a clear picture of the developmental process within the club. Below is a graph of the girls side of one club we consult with (from U11 to U18). We ranked the teams

0 Another Great Shot Blocking Drill

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s topic deals with footwork, fitness and shot blocking. Start with a keeper in goal and a server 10 yards out from each post. The keeper starts by sliding to one post, touching the post and then sliding toward the other post. The near server shoots and the keeper has

0 Drill to Improve Footwork and Catching

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on footwork, fitness and catching.

Start with two cones making up a goal (8 yards apart).  A series of cones are set up starting 5 yards behind the goal.  A server has a few balls 15 yards in front of the goal

The keeper starts by slaloming through each of the cones.  Instead of just

0 Shot Blocking Drill

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured topic deals with footwork, fitness and shot blocking.

Start with 6 cones spread out around the 6 yard box and then two cones inside the 6.  The outside cones are numbered.  There is a server at the top of the 18 and a keeper besides one of the inside cones.

The server calls a number (if the keeper is at cone A he calls 1,2 or 3) and the

4 Testing to Evaluate Player Ability and Development

As a coach I'm always evaluating my players but mostly on a subjective level. I do some 1v1 and 2v2 statistical evaluations that I wrote about in a previous post but that's the only objective information I've used to in the past.

This spring our club has implemented the SoccerFIT Game Speed Assessment for all of our teams. The test looks at three specific categories - Speed/Agility, Soccer Fitness and Technical Skill. The ideal situation is to see a balance between these unique areas but in most cases players will be stronger in one or two and weaker in the others. Here's an example of a report that you would receive after entering your data from the tests:

There are 15 different test