Questioning my coach's knowledge a bit

Keep in mind that when you are actually playing soccer, that's a very important form of conditioning. So you are conditioning at every practice.

If you can't control the ball, it won't matter how fit you are.

 

Back in high school (IL) the mens teams played only in the fall. Winter, Spring, and (sometimes) summer were dominated by clubs. However, in the summer a high school league was run by schools that wanted to keep their athletes somewhat fit, and getting regular touches in. Usually a past player (few years graduated) would act as coach to comply with regulations. A month before tryouts and the real season the summer league ended, and while I cannot speak for others, my coach instituted a "captains practice" (optional) where two or three varsity players ran a practice for anyone on any level who wanted to participate. This was mostly dominated by juniors and seniors who knew what they would be facing come tryout time. These were by no means light practices, but they were lighter than what we would face come season time.
They were 4 days a week and increased in intensity as the weeks wore on and tryouts came closer. It really amazed me how those who showed up came to give it their all. Usually we started out with a mile run (first week) then a two mile (second week), and then three mile (thrid and fourth weeks). We did drills, had conditioning efforts, lifted, scrimaged, and had a good time doing it. If you showed up willing to work, they were a great time to get your game back up a few levels, and a great time to get to know your teamates.
The womens team also ran these in the winter (in our schools fieldhouse before school 3 days a week). A larger group of the guys took it upon themselves to show up just to keep personally fit and play whever possible. Strange as it sounds, I miss driving to school at 545 in the morning in sub-freezing temperatures to play.
If you can take charge, a "captains practice" would be a great way to get your team to rally around getting into better shape and working on your touch. In the winter it ismore difficult, but usually a high schools gym is open early in the morning before school. It is totally up to the players, but you might be surprised to find how many guys would be willing to participate. Try it out, or suggest it to your teamates, or even your coach and see if he/she would be up for allowing it.

 

What I like about your approach is the initiative that you show. No matter where we are in life there are obstacles and there are ways around the obstacles. Success in life lies in our ability to seek out these routes and to use them to our benefit.

I used to coach my son and don't anymore due to politics. He's got the skill, but needs to be more fit.
Unfortunately, he also has had coaches that don't meet his needs. The only thing I've been able to do for him is to take him to the school gym after hours and try and figure out a fun way for him to exercise. Since he enjoys soccer, basketball and football, we bring all 3 balls and I have him fly around the gym for about an hour. We've been doing it for 3 weeks and he's already seen results.

rymannryan, from what you've said it's difficult for you to get the coach to mend his ways. Instead of hitting your head against the wall, try Chicago1871's idea of forming a captain's practice or just find a way of doing it on your own.

Good luck and don't let anyone bring you down.

 

As an advanced coach, I will try to answer your question professionally, and then provide some perspetive.

Since I don't know what your coach's goals are, I can't say if the order of the workout is correct. Giving him the benefit of doubt, sprinting at the end of practice works on on anerobic (and potentially aerobic) conditioning. If he is indeed attmepting to work on speed, which is doubtful, then the order of that exercise is misplaced.

Duck walking is plyometric if done correctly. Plyometrics as a rule are risky endeavors for youth players such as yourself without strict supervision. With the possibility of destroying young knees, I'd be very cautious about doing advanced plyos unless I had good knowledge (which I do) and experience. He may not have those things and is being cautious.

As for doing the routine once per week, I agree that it is likely not the most effective way to train. Perhaps if you mentioned to him that you and 5-6 of your friends would be interested in doing them 3 days per week to be "super-fit" he might respond to it. The trick here is to ensure him that he will not be trying to move the training beyond the bulk of the team. A significant challenge of coaching high school players is to keep in challenging for the best players while not making it too hard for the weakest players. With the wide range of talent at most schools, this is not easy.

And finally to add some perspective, I coached HS varsity for 7 years. In that time, I learned much about coaching but only through years of hard work and dedication. Most high school coaches don't put in that much time. The fact is, your coach is probably not up to speed on all the latest training methods. He may well be open to trying some new things if he can be shown by someone who has had great success. I've often had success with other coaches of female athletes by pointing out techniques used by our national team and national staff, or things used by Dorrance at North Carolina. You can't argue that those teams are successful, and they training they use is first rate. You might want to get the summer program from somplace like Indiana or Virgina and ask your coach if you can just do one of their summer programs. He should be open to the idea that if you guys want to have a chance at playing at that level, you ought to be able to do the fitness work those coaches prescribe for their recruits.

Best of luck to you.

 

1. A lot depends upon the goals of your coach. And we don't know those--so it's difficult to judge.

2. My bias is: do everything you possibly can using a ball. For instance, the initial "2 laps" to start out, I have my players jog with the ball. I think there are a lot of other conditioning and agility activities you can do with a ball as well.

However, I recognize that perhaps the limits on seasonal training may mean that no soccer balls can be used when he assembles the lot of you to train. In this case, can there be substitutes for soccer balls (even tennis balls, futsal balls)? But I'd train (including conditioning training) as much with a ball as possible.

3. If the purpose is conditioning, then training once a week has limited value.

 

Okay, if you can't train with balls, here is what I'd do: Fartlek training.

Basically, the idea is to alternate sprints and jogs (that is how distance runners use it). For soccer/football players, instead you'd alternate sprints, jogs and walks (gradually decreasing the amount of time spent walking), This really challenges recovery ability (which is critical for a good player). For example, start out with a warm up (10 minutes of walk to slow jog), then at the whistle everyone does a moderate jog for 60 seconds, another whistle do a sprint for 60 seconds, whistle than walk for 90 seconds, whistle--jog for 60 seconds, another whistle--sprint for 60 seconds, whistle--walk for 60 seconds (reducing the walking time each rendition until it's only 15 seconds or so depending upon the conditioning of the athletes).

Additionally, you don't just do this forward, do it backwards, side-to-side, do it in a slalom run or course. You can even pair players up (and the lead player tries to "get away" while the "partner" has to follow them, at whatever gait--sprint, jog or walk, the coach has whistled for. Or, just do the "get away" on the sprint element.

If I couldn't use balls in any of my off-season activities, that is what I think would have the most benefit for a group of HS players. And I'd look to do this 2-3 times a week (ideally 3-4). It adds some variety and competition to the running workouts and is a bit more suited for football players (than just running a lot of laps or doing pushups, etc.).

 

If he's going to insist on 6 laps or so talk him into doing three man passing drills {where you pass to center and overlap} up one side of the field and down the other.

If he wont let you do aerobic with the ball suggest indian runs. Jogging in a line (two if you have more than 12 players with rear man (men) sprinting to the head of the column. [Close to fartlek work]

The politics here are something you will have to handle. Maybe approach the track coach and say can you help the coach in training for power and acceleration? We'll get some guys to run 60 yd hurdles. etc

For training on your own the rule of thumb for anerobic alactic (under 15 seconds) work outs is ten to one rest period.

So if you sprint for forty yards in 5-6 seconds rest for a minute before repeating. If you do them in sets the rest period between sets (try juggling to keep busy) is the sum of the time it takes to do the first set.

Remember anything over 15 seconds is anerobic lactic and much harder to recover from. [info should be in your books] Most soccer countries don't work this system. The Dutch confine their sprints to the 30-40 yard range for example.

Is adition to plyometric for power aceleration find one of those small landscape hills about 10 yards long thatgo up steeply at 30-45 degrees or so. One you can power up in 1-2 sconds. Walk back down and rest the appropriate time and repeat.

While your getting ready to sprint up the hill visualize someone else about to recieve the ball. Visual eye contact with him. Then sprint as you visualize the ball about 5 yards before he might receive it & pass it to you. Visualization to help your first step get quicker combined with the physical practice. Talk to your teammates about more early eye contact during scrimmages. Note this not eye contact after the guy receives the pass. It's before. A higher level.

Good luck

 

As someone who trained under one of the top conditioning experts in the region, I would say the the order of exercises looks to be accurate for soccer conditioning, with glaring omissions at the end. As an earlier poster noted the coach is making the speed exercises anerobic. This simulates the need for speed thoughout the course of a game, rather than just the first 20 minutes.

The glaring omission in this workout may shed some light on the soreness factor. While doing the anerobic speed exercises, lactic acid will inevitably build up in the legs. This is what causes the soreness. It is unthinkable for a workout like this to not end in 2 warm-down laps and stretching. If you add this to your routine, I guarantee the soreness will decrease, and possibly go away completely.

 

The exercises you have listed are really good and all you need to do is add in plyos. As far as duckwalks they are a must,just don't have any player with knee problems do duckwalks or plyos. Good luck!
Bruce