Soccer Fitness Training - How To Do It

Often called "The Beautiful Game", football, or soccer if you're from the United States, is unquestionably the most popular sport in the world.

It started with George Best in the 1960's, and now Soccer is the new rock and roll of our time with multi-million pound paydays, glamorous celebrity lifestyles and worldwide acclaim on offer for its top exponents. Sponsors and TV Companies also profit massively from the world-wide demand for the game and its domination of our TV Screens and popular culture shows no signs of flagging.

Not surprisingly therefore, how to actually train a soccer player to produce the goods on the pitch is big business for the coaches who know how. As an avid football fan for over 25 years I'm going to explain the best conditioning exercises currently known for the different player positions. I am not going to discuss ball control here because that is a separate topic:

The Goalkeeper

The Goalie has to go from a still position suddenly into a quick explosive movement. Powerlifting, reaction training and plyometrics should therefore be the mainstay of the training regime. A controlled low fat diet should also improve agility making it easier for the keeper to span the width of the goal at breakneck speed when required.

The Defender

Similar to the Keeper, the defender needs explosive bursts of energy and good reactions and agility. They also ideally need to be physically bigger to intimidate and impose themselves on the attacking strikers but still be able to run fast enough to keep up with them. Fullbacks need full body strength training but a high protein / low carbohydrate diet to avoid putting on too much weight which could slow them down. Reaction training is also a must here.

The Mid-Fielder

Mid-fielders need to do interval training interspersing sprints with longer runs to improve both their basic fitness and explosive power as they will need both to get them through 90 minutes of what will be a lot of running around (more so than with any other player position). Power lifting to achieve full body strength (but again not at the expense of speed) should also feature prominently to give extra authority to the tackles that will need to be made.

The Striker

Forwards need to train for speed and agility pure and simple. This means factoring in explosive twists and turns into their workouts. They also need good general fitness so they can run at a slower speed for longer periods of time to keep up with the pace of the game and stay in contention to capitalise on any opportunities that are created.

Conclusion

These tips are just general guidelines and obviously will need to be tweaked to fit the individual requirements of different athletes but hopefully the underlying principles should be clear. The more progress a player makes the more individualised his or her training can become.

It is important that any unique physical characteristics of a footballer (e.g. an unusually tall player) be taken into account when initially forming a training program and it is also important to constantly re-evaluate the training methods to find the right 'fit' for that particular individual.

To use an analogy from Boxing: behind every great fighter there is a great trainer. The best boxers in history often had very unconventional techniques but had trainers who recognised their particular talents and structured the training to allow for this. Muhammed Ali did everything wrong from a boxing textbook point of view but his trainer, Angelo Dundee, recognised his genius and allowed him to express himself in training, taking a much more 'hands off' approach than other boxing trainers of the day.

So perhaps the rule should be that there are no definitive 'hard and fast' rules but that if you combine the above basic principles with a flexible approach then the foundation for success can be achieved.

Gary Evans has been an avid football supporter for over 25 years. If you found the above information on soccer training useful, you can learn a lot more about how the world's elite players and coaches train for their soccer matches by clicking here: http://tinyurl.com/kqgdg

Soccer Posters, Collecting Soccer World Cup Team Posters

For every soccer enthusiast, the event of the year is the World Cup. The soccer fans throughout the world are the most dedicated and watch the games mesmerized, and they don't hide the fact.

The Souvenirs of the World Cup

Whenever an event like the World Cup soccer takes place, millions of souvenirs are made for fans to have a reminder of the event. Every conceivable type of keepsake including soccer posters for all the different teams are sold to the fans. Every year the most sought-after souvenirs are the soccer posters of different sizes, which the fans find to be the perfect remembrance of the event.

What is a Soccer Poster?

A soccer poster for each event represents part of the history of that country's team, the faces of the team members for that year will always be remembered by that poster. Each soccer fan wants a little part of that big event to be with him or her forever, and that is the reason why soccer posters are the most in demand item at an event as big as World Cup soccer.

The value of these posters that hold memories of history forever, were even bigger once upon a time, when television broadcasting hardly existed. Every image of the soccer event was treasured and none more than those on the soccer poster.

Of course the power of mind and what you have seen in person is probably the best memory of all, when an event is as big as the World Cup Soccer this is so true for the soccer fans. In years to come, with your children and their children, having these soccer poster souvenirs of such a great event as a Soccer World Cup, you will be a very special person to them for having been there or having collected such wonderful keepsakes.

Our passions define who we are, our minds register what we see. The pictures prove we have seen it and posters make the history come back to life. Collecting soccer posters will make our history book more colorful and vivid, our children and grandchildren whom, no doubt will be soccer fans too, will have many stories to tell about the fascinating, adventurous person you are.

Therefore, while many other souvenirs may or may not survive, the soccer poster will surely pass the time test and remain in the family history book for many generations to come. Images will always be a main form of remembrance. When you have a picture or poster that holds expressions beyond words such as a soccer poster of a winning World Cup soccer team, you certainly have something of great value.

Please visit our site PosterInfo-Online for great resources, information, hints and tips for all things posters and Find Your Favorite Posters

European Champion's League Match Day 8 - Soccer Giants Kicked Out--2

In another game worthy of attention, the under performing Bayern Munich FC team, which had slipped from first place to fifth in the German Bundesliga, overcame Europe?s most successful team, Real Madrid FC by two goals to one to edge them out of this season?s champion?s league tournament.

With Real leading by three goals to two from the first leg earlier played in Madrid, all they needed was a draw in order to qualify.

However, all their game plans were drastically altered when the Real team conceded an early goal in the tenth second of the match. The goal, which is the fastest goal in champion?s league history, came just after the match kicked off. Real found it hard to come back into the game after that, and Bayern Munich later got their second goal in the second half. Although the Real team got a late goal via a penalty by Ruud van Nistelrooy, it was not enough to get the desired result as they exited from the competition on the away goals rule.

This early exit leaves Real Madrid with only one probable trophy in view-the league trophy. However, they are currently fourth on the table and are separated by four points from the leaders. It remains to be seen if the Real team has whatit takes to beat Barcelona FC and Sevilla FC to the title, or if this will be another season without a trophy for the team, their fourth without winning any silverware.

Arsenal FC of England could only manage a draw against PSV Eindhoven of Holland on their home ground. Having lost the first leg by a lone goal, Arsenal needed an outright win in order to qualify for the quarterfinals. They scored early in the second half, only to lose their lead with just few minutes left in the match. The match ended in a draw, meaning that Arsenal lost out on a two to one goals aggregate score line. For fans of Arsenal, seeing their side crash out of three competitions in just eleven days must have been a painful blow. The club can only hope to qualify for Europe next season by placing third or fourth in the premiership.

Lyon, the dominant team in France, lost out too. They were beaten by Roma FC of Italy by two goals to nil. It was a shock result, given that the first leg ended in a draw in Rome. Given Lyon's strength, everyone expected them to beat Roma easily. The result turned out to be a disaster for them in the end.

Inter Milan FC of Italy, the runaway league leaders in Serie A, were beaten by Valencia FC of Spain on the away goals rule. Having played a two all draw in the first leg at Milan, the two teams played out a goalless draw to ensure victory for Valencia. The match would however be remembered more for the ugly fighting scenes afterwards than the match itself.

Earlier in the season, many pundits had predicted that four teams out of Inter Milan, Lyon, Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid would surely feature in the semi-finals of the championship. Now, with these big teams out, it remains to be seen which of the teams left in the race will eventually lift the trophy in Athens in May. It has become really difficult to predict a winner. Or would any one reading this want to try to predict a winner?

Soccer Coaching Drills: Throw Ins

Throw-ins play an important role in soccer coaching drills. It is the duty of an expert coach to train his team for perfect throw ins. Following are some of the ideas to consider about taking throw-ins.

Possession Should Not Be Immediately Lost

Teach the players to keep possession of the ball. This is the first and the most important thing that the players need to learn while considering throw ins.

The first priority of the players must be to keep possession of the ball. It is very important to understand that it is simply useless if the players throw the ball down the line if possession will immediately be lost.

Choosing The Right Player

What makes the huge difference is whether the right player is being used or not. It is important for the players to keep in mind that in the defending third, if the opponents press, they are very much likely to lose the possession. Therefore, the wise player should leave the defenders free to mark and cover space.

Using Simple Plays

The coach must train their players to use simple approaches. When it comes to taking a throw-in, there are three simple approaches that coaches need to have their teams rehearse regularly.

The first approach is throw the ball back, away from pressure, and switch it to the other side of the field. As per the second approach, the players should make runs to create space and beat marking.

What is more, they should throw the ball to an open player. The third approach is to throw the ball to a back-to-goal player who drops the ball for the thrower.

Throwing To Feet

Another important thing regarding the throw ins is that the players must be trained to throw the ball to feet with perfection. An expert coach knows that the players at all levels of ability are capable to do better when they receive a throw-in to feet.

The interesting thing is that when it comes to Soccer coaching drills, if the players are in pressure, they can perform much better when they receive a throw-in to feet.

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of soccer coaching drills. His web site, Youth Soccer Drills, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.