Water and Sports

The San Jose Mercury had a front page article (Thursday, July 10 2008) about the dangers of heat to kids.

There wasn’t a whole lot of information…just a reminder that coaches and parents need to make sure their kids drink enough water during the day.

By time you’re thirsty it can be too late.

Coaches should have their athletes bring water bottles to practice and take frequent water breaks.  Every 15 to 20 minutes is a good idea.

In addition, parents should keep an eye on their kids after practice to make sure they are tolerating the heat.

Along with rising temperatures, higher humidity increases the risk too.

I’m a big believer in water as opposed to sports drinks.  I think for 99% of athletes, water is the ideal drink.  And the one percent are not children!

Warm-up Analysis 2

This video claims to be how the Brazilians warm-up.  I think Instead
it’s a video of a camp.

Here’s what I like about it:

1.  The circuit format.  It can keep everyone moving.
2.  The six skills they are working on: Forward/backward, lateral, jumping and quick feet
3.  They mention that the athletes are focusing on good form.  They don’t mention what
that form looks like or consists of.

Here’s what I don’t like…
1.  It’s not a warm-up for a game or practice.  It’s a conditioning circuit. 
2.  As a conditioning circuit, there’s a lot of athletes standing around.
3.  Before conditioning, good form needs to be taught.
4. It is heavily equipment dependent.  They need poles and cones

This might give a coach some ideas on what to work on, but there
isn’t much information.  I give it two stars.

Soccer Running Technique Video #2

This one is a little bit better. 

1. It’s nice to have some sound. And the music is ok, too.
2.  I like the visual of the string to keep your eyes level.  Too many kids run like bunny rabbits; bouncing up and down.
3.  I’m not sure what “heel roll, push” means.  And I don’t like kids thinking about “pushing” themselves forward.  Pushing takes energy and tightens up the body. Runners and soccer players need to be relaxed.
4. He talks about arm movement being forward and backward.  I like giving a visual or kinesthetic cue: pockets to pits, or shoulders to hips.
5. In one seen it looks like his hips are bouncing. In most he doesn’t and shows pretty good form.
6.  I like the visual of the circle for the path of his foot.  I also like the cue of “cycling” the foot.

I give this one three stars.

Running Video Analysis

I thought I’d look at some Youtube videos that teach running and do some analysis of them. Hopefully, there will be some good stuff.  A quick search and this was the first one I came across. It’s put out by Physical Education Teachers so it should be good…

Comments:  It’s not bad. I like that it shows progressions.  As an instructional video it really needs more information and details.  For instance:
1.  What is the focus on foot plant? Toes, balls of the foot…it isn’t clear.
2.  What does she need to do to increase the speed?
3. What are her arms and legs doing?  What is she trying to accomplish? What does “lift heels” mean?
4.  Specific details on how fast and how far should she be running each rep.

I give it two stars.  I’m disappointed by it, since I’m a PE teacher too.  Of course, from the ability of the PE teachers I see, teaching running isn’t something that’s covered in their curriculum.

Soccer Warm-up Video Analysis

Today, I thought I’d look at warm-up video.  Fortunately, this is a great one.
I give it five stars.

First, it demonstrates how to do a dynamic warm-up very well.  There are probably 20
different exercises shown in less than ten minutes.

Next, it shows how to do them.  Short distances with a lot of variety.

Third, he gets pretty much a full body workout in.  There could be more lateral
and change of direction work, but I don’t think this is his
complete workout.  And I’m sure they do more conditioning beyond
the practice field.

His athletes are college kids and it’s obvious.  There’s no
goofing around and for the most part, they do the exercises
very well.

For kids, there’s a few things I would I would do differently..

1) Give a more instruction or directions for each movement.
2) Depending on the age, come up with goofy names for the exercises
to make it more fun.
3) Add some exercises working on strength, balance and coordination
to develop the athletic skills of the athletes.
4)  Include some partner exercises to build team spirit
5) Definitely have running instruction at some point in the warm-up

All in all this is an excellent video.  All coaches should watch it for
ideas on how to warm-up.

Customized Soccer Fitness Report

I’ve just created a new fitness report.  It’s very comprehensive,
and indivualized.

You can take it HERE!

 

One exercise NOT to do

Last week I was at the bookstore, looking at
soccer conditioning books.  There were a few
that were pretty good.

My main problem with most conditioning books
is that they are written for the professional coach
or someone who has a college background in
exercise physiology or biomechanics.

They all have a lot of the why, but very little
of the how. 

I try to focus on how you do something and
keep it practical.

But there were some examples that just made
me scream.  Here was one…

Leg Pushers.  This is where the athlete is on
their back.  Their partner stands by their shoulders.
The athlete holds on to the partners ankles and then
throws their legs up to the partners stomach.

The partner then pushes the athletes legs to the ground
and the athlete tries to prevent their legs from touching
the ground.

HORRIBLE!  Ok, it’s good for producing pain and making
an exercise difficult.  I don’t think that’s the purpose of
training, but if you do, fine.

But it’s horrible on the athletes lower back.  Most kids
can’t even do a single leg raise correctly, no less a double.

The lower back should be squeezed against the ground while
doing any raised leg exercises.  If the athlete can’t maintain
the flat back, then the exercise should be terminated.

Here’s a much better and safer exercise…

1.  Have the athlete start on their back.  Their hands
can be under the small of their back. Their knees bent
at 90 degrees and feet flat on the ground.

2.  They should press their back so that the fingers
are being squeezed.  Hold and release a few times.

3.  Now, bring both legs up over head so that they
are perpendicular to the ground. Slowly, lower both
legs till the back rises up off the fingers.

4.  That is the farthest spot that an athlete should lower
their legs too.  For most, it will only be ten to twenty
degrees!  A few will be able to go to 45 and only someone
who is very well trained will be able to go further.

One way to practice this control is to do single leg drops.

Keep one leg bent with the feet flat on the ground. Bring the
other leg up to perpendicular.  Now, slowly lower the leg to
45 degrees.

Hold it there, and then raise it up.  Do some repetitions and
then switch legs.

By isolating one leg, the athlete learns to control
the abs and back. After a few weeks they should be able
to try double leg drops.

Coaches and parents…you see the poor example frequently.
Do not use leg pushes. 

Be especially careful of athletes that are overweight
or have excessively curved backs.

They are at a greater risk for injury.

Sports should be getting kids fit…not injured

How To Improve Foot Speed

I was watching a video clip of highlights from a professional
tournament the other day.  It’s fun to do isn’t it?

The camera angle focused on the feet of the players
as they dribbled around their opponent.

The feet would barely touch the ground, tap the ball one
way, roll it another, and when the defender’s legs were tied
up in knots, they speed off towards the goal.

It was an amazing display of how quick the players are.

And it got me thinking about how would you train that
kind of speed. And that kind of technique.

The first step, would be do work on very fast feet with
out a ball.  I would start off making sure that the athlete
had a good basic athletic stance:
1. Stand tall
2. Bend knees
3. Curve in lower back
4.  Weight on the balls of the feet

From here, the athlete would work on
tapping their feet in various directions; front, side, back, variable.

There are lots of games you could do to encourage faster and
faster feet. You could try competition with a partner or to see
how many taps you could get in ten seconds. Be creative.

The next step would be to throw body/head fakes into the tapping
and then a short sprint.

When the athletes are proficient at this, add a ball with out
a partner.

Finally, add a defender.  Be sure to slowly increase the intensity
level of the defenders so each athlete can work on work on the
skill instead of “beating” the defender.

So many soccer skills can seem overwhelming. But when broken
down into smaller increments they become very teachable.

Be sure to sign-up for my newsletter at
http://www.athleticskillsforsoccer.com to learn many more drills
and techniques to gain athletic skills and soccer success.

What’s in the Why?

You hear the question all the time from little kids…

“Why, Mommie, why?”

As our kids get older, they stop saying it…at
least out loud.

I think in their heads it’s still going on.  What do I mean?

When we give instructions to kids, we never tell them
why do do something.

We tell them to go do their homework.  We don’t tell them
why.

We tell them to work hard at soccer.  We don’t tell them why.

We tell them to play with with their head up.  We don’t tell
them why.

The next time you’re with your son or daughter, or you’re
with your soccer team and you give directions, be sure
to explain why they are doing it.

It might be because it will make them better. It might
be because they will get to the ball a bit faster, or kick
more accurately.

By telling them why, they will buy into what they
are doing.  They will have more motivation to try
harder and to succeed.

And that is why you do it!

Teaching to parents and coaches

I just got done doing some internet research on my competitors.

First, I must say I was disappointed.  My site and blog didn’t even
come up on the first ten pages. Ouch!

Obviously, I have a lot to do in that respect.

Then, I looked at some of the sites.  A lot of them sure did look
pretty.

Some of them even know soccer.  A few of them even knew coaching.

I didn’t find one that knows parents or kids.

They are all written by coaches and trainers FOR coaches and trainers.

Sure, I could understand what they were talking about.  But what
about the layman? What about you?

I don’t think so.

Most of them go into great detail on why you do something.

When they get into the how, they are fall woefully short.

And then, they all think that the only kids playing soccer
are great athletes who just need to be trained harder, made tougher,
trained more, ran faster.

It’s ridiculous.

Here’s my point.  Kids need help with their fitness and athletic
skills. If they don’t that’s awesome.

But if they do, sign-up for my newsletter at
http://www.athleticskillsforsoccer.com

Get common sense advice that gets results.