Myths and Traditions

Lest you think I’ve forgotten to post well let’s just say that sometimes life just gets in the way.  No excuses just too darn busy.

Some years ago while I was working on getting a coaching license our instructor expressed his opinion that youth soccer players shouldn’t train with weights because it was unsafe for young developing athletes.  Well being the obnoxious student that I was (and still am) I just happened to have the most current research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association which contained an article about weight training in young athletes and how if done properly was very safe.  After class in private I showed the article to the teacher and in his thick “across the pond” accent he said he still didn’t believe it.  His opinion, based on tradition and well-intended concern for the welfare of his youth players, was nevertheless based in ignorance.

I’m often amazed at how traditional mores in sport training are really nothing more than myths.  Another myth that has been researched extensively is that stretching before participating in a sporting event prevents injury.  The truth is that stretching doesn’t prevent injuries however dynamic warm-up does.  The goal is to warm-up muscle groups by increasing blood flow to the areas that will be used in the activity.  The research shows that this is much more important than stretching.  I do believe that stretching is useful to help athletes to get mentally focused and ready to compete.  It also is a great time for a team doing group stretches to bond and prepare as a unit.  Whether it actually improves performance is yet to be fully understood.

My point here is that as coaches we should use proper resources to apply sport- training principles to our athletes.  Chances are that (at least for conditioning) if you’re doing it the way your coach did it back in the day then you’re probably not doing it the best way.  Here is a short list of a couple of great websites that I’ve found that really dig into the science of training for soccer.  I’m doing this without their permission but I don’t think they will complain about extra traffic being directed to their sites.

http://georgenassis.blogspot.com

http://optimumfitnessonline.com

http://nsca.com

You Run Like a…Soccer Player!

Even though soccer is played on 100-ish meter pitch, it is still a game of inches.  With that in mind it’s good to consider some little things that can improve a players ability to gain more than a few inches as they sprint down the field.  One thing that I have noticed with a lot of young soccer players is that they run like…well, girls!  Sorry if that is politically incorrect but sometimes we can be honest can’t we?  What I mean is that a lot of soccer players run with elbows out, with minimal arm swing, improper leg alignment, and with their butts sticking out.  Elbows-out is okay if you’re shielding someone away from the ball but you don’t need it when you’re just running flat out.  Proper arm swing helps your overall transfer of power, as does proper leg-torso alignment.  If the old butt is sticking out then there is improper pelvis tilt, which usually means weak hip flexors.  I’ve done biomechanical analyses on a lot of athletes over the years and I hate to say it but soccer players are usually the worst.  This is understandable because we learn to walk as a child and eventually start running and no one analyzes how we do it as long as we don’t break our mom’s furniture doing it.

     Here is just one simple way for a coach to watch his/her players and help them have better form.  And of course better form means faster.

1.  Set up a straight 20-meter running lane along one of the sidelines.  Have your player(s) sprint towards you from one end towards you.

2.   Watch their arm swing.  Each hand should swing from near the chin to their imaginary back pocket.  Arms should not cross paths and elbows should be in tight to the body with hands relaxed.

3.   Observe their feet.  Feet should straddle the sideline as they run and point forward with some minor deviation.  Knees, shoulders and feet should line up as they take steps.

4.   Have them sprint again but you move 90-degrees to the side and watch for the same things.

5.    Watch how far they lift their knees as they sprint and how far their back- side sticks out.  If this is an issue have them focus on lifting their knees and tucking their bottom under them as they run.

6.   Lastly, watch how much the shoulders pivot forward and back as they run.  There should only be minimal movement.

 

As you work with your players to improve their form it is wise to make small adjustments.  If you do too much too fast they risk injury.  I guarantee that with a little form improvement players get faster and that translates to better outcomes.  

Please Take Care

   Quite often when discussing some of the greatest soccer players of all time, the question comes up “who was the best ever?”  Tough question when you consider the choices; Pele, Messi, Maradona.  My friends from the British Isles always come up with one name, George Best.  Now to be honest as an American when I first heard the name I had no idea who he was.  Over the years I have been educated by my more learned friends about this soccer genius whose flame burned out way too young.  When George was at the height of his career there was little opportunity for us Yanks to watch the greats play (except on PBS- Soccer Made in Germany or the occasional match on Wide World of Sports).

     George was simply brilliant on the pitch and certainly showed a great deal of flair off the field.  Best once state, “I spent 90% of my money on women, drink and fast cars, the rest I wasted.”  Great comment until you learn the rest of the story like how even after a controversial liver transplant to replace the one he had destroyed by overindulging for years on alcohol and then continued to drink until his premature death just a few years ago.

     Alcoholism destroys people.  Not just the ones damaging their own bodies but they do a lot of damage to their family and friends along the way.  No matter how much we love them or they love us their addiction takes over and their priorities get twisted into an almost unravel-able knot.

     As an athlete your body is your greatest asset and a gift.  Why would you do something that would destroy your ability to perform at your best and could result in a myriad of possible negative outcomes?  As one who has lost a number of people close to me to addiction I simply ask you to take care of yourself.  George Best’s sister and brother-in-law created a foundation to help research and find solutions to alcoholism after his death: www.georgebest.com.

     For Dad, Uncle Bob, Uncle Ardell, Uncle Keith, Uncle Robert Jackson and of course George Best.  We lost you all way too early.

A Case for Referee Fitness

     My daughter was playing for her high school soccer team the other day in a neighboring town and I was somewhat amused by the lineup of referees that were assigned to the match.  The center ref was probably relatively fit for a nearly 70-year-old, the near side line-judge (I know…assistant referee) kept reaching back to rub his hamstring every time he had to waddle down the line to watch the game, and the far-side assistant…well, do you remember the character on Saturday Night Live named “Pat”?  Nuff said.  The advantage to having a slow assistant ref is that my daughter got away with a couple of off-sides calls because he couldn’t get there to see.  Unfortunately, so did the other team.  The center ref covered a generous 30-square-meters or so of the field and did the best he could but what really shocked me was when he showed his AARP card instead of a yellow.  And Pat, more or less watched the game from his/her patch of sod kind of like a tourist surveying the buffet on a cruise ship.

     There is certainly something to be said about an official’s ability to call a good game by virtue of his or her ability to position themselves in the proper place on the field to make the best call.  There are a lot of things for one of these people to do but they are certainly more hindered by lack of fitness.  Of course eyesight, knowledge of the laws of the game and good judgment are vital, so is fitness.

    One ref who I have become friends with over the years told me once that he referees for love of the game and to keep himself in shape. We have disagreed several times over the years about his calls, but after the game we remain friends.  We may not talk for a few days after a particularly eventful match but we’ll be friends for a long time.  The thing with him is that he is in great shape and constantly works to improve his skills as a referee.  As a coach I respect that and can accept that occasionally he makes a bad call.  When you are assigned a ref who makes bad calls and can’t physically do the job, I for one am more likely to use words I shouldn’t use and push the limits of getting thrown out of a game (by the way, that hasn’t happened yet).  Howard Webb comes to mind when you consider what a ref should at least look like physically.  I would be less likely to argue with Howard than with Pat or Mister AARP.

     Question of the week:  "How to improve the physical quality of referees in the game?"

Don't Get Knocked Off!

     Finally settled into my new location and ready to roll.  It feels good to get life back to normal.

     I coached a young man some years ago who was very fit in every way.  He had recently graduated from high school and along with playing soccer he had been on the high school wrestling team.  Not only did he have strong legs but his upper body was pretty ripped.  I know because he went out of his way to show us all every day.  Just as a fitness check/”I love ya man” kind of manly gesture I would walk up to the side of him and try to knock him off balance with a little shoulder chuck.  Now I hate to admit this but I weighed about 60 pounds more than him.  He never budged.  It got to be a contest for us and so I would sneak up to the side of him when he couldn’t see and I would try to knock him off balance when he was most vulnerable.  No matter what I did I couldn’t rattle his 145-pound frame.

     Match-time was no different.  I never saw him get “knocked-off” the ball even when the brutes on the other team tried to send him flying into the cheap seats.  On the contrary, they tended to just bounce off and often hit the ground in their attempts to jar him.  He would justifiably chuckle at their attempts.

     This reiterated to me the need for soccer players to toughen up their core and upper bodies as well as their “base” meaning hips and legs.  Players should spend time each day, off-season and on, working on their overall fitness.  Don’t be one of those players with all the talent in the world but whose skills are easily snuffed out by a big bruiser who rattles your cage by jolting you into submissiveness.  As players move into the bigger/tougher leagues this will be more of a factor, even for the ladies.

     An easy way to do this would be to incorporate push-ups and crunches into your daily routine.  Better yet would be a weight-training routine that focuses on fitness rather than bulking up.  Whatever you do or whatever you coaches have your players do, be wise about it and be strong.  Don’t let some punk knock you off the ball.

Ankles Aweigh!

   I apologize for my recent absence.  I’m in the process of relocating and have been spending way too much time on the road.  Fortunately the process is moving along swimmingly and it’s time to get back to the routine as much as possible.

     I had a discussion with a colleague the other day and we discussed our mutual love for trail running.  He’s much more of an endurance animal than I ever was (note the past tense) but our paths have crossed a number of times over the years and now we get to work together and swap stories about how great we once were.

     Now about ankles.  Soccer players have notoriously strong ankles.  Why you may ask?  Well, think about it, which joint takes the most punishment in a game of soccer?  Of course the knees get a lot of work but ankles really are very vulnerable to injury due primarily to the fact that they are where the action is in “football”.

     Over 20+ years of coaching soccer I’ve noticed that my players don’t have many ankle injuries, at least not as often as basketball, volleyball, American football and other sports.  Why is that?  Maybe I’m wrong but from my experience they just don’t have ankle issues as often as other sports.  There must be something inherent in the way soccer players move and run that helps strengthen their ankles thereby reducing ankle injuries.

     I remember seeing an interview with NBA player Tom Chambers of the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and I forget whom else.  Tom used to get teased for playing in low-top basketball shoes.  The reporter asked him about that and he also mentioned that he never taped his ankles.  Tom never had ankle injuries.  Now Tom might have had extraordinary ankle genetics but I think there is a trend here.  I believe that high top shoes and “over-taping” makes ankles weaker and more susceptible to injury.

     Now of course when an injury does occur we should take precautions and support the joint until it heals but it makes sense to wean the ankle away from too much support in order for it to grow stronger eventually going au naturel with just a sock and boot for support.

     Soccer players run on uneven ground for the most part and have built up the musculature around the foot and ankle and therefore are less likely to get ankle injuries.  I would love to see a study comparing players who play on artificial fields versus playing on natural grass and what the respective ankle injury rates are.  Just an aside.

     My trail running friend and I both agree that running on dirt trails is a great way to build up ankle strength.  I would suggest that any soccer player that is in the pre-season conditioning phase should spend a couple of their long-run days by running on hilly uneven ground.  Just take it a little slower and watch where your feet are falling to avoid any ankle breaking gopher holes.  Your thoughts are always welcome!

Burnout!

I have recently become reacquainted with an old enemy to sports performance, burnout.

Let me post just one soccer player scenario.  A player begins playing AYSO soccer at 5 years old.  After a couple of seasons he/she is encouraged by a coach or more likely a parent to try out for a competitive team in a tougher league.  Eventually they move up to a better team with more opportunities to play and to maybe get noticed by someone important.  This player plays in a fall season, spring season, indoor winter season, plays in as many as five tournaments per year, and attends 2 camps each summer run by guys with cool accents.  Follow this up with possibly playing ODP soccer, and high school soccer.  By the time this athlete reaches college he/she would be a seasoned veteran of the game.  If they then play four years of collegiate soccer and survived without a career threatening injury they are probably quite lucky or blessed.

How do we keep our player’s passion for the game alive?  Recently I sat with a friend who was watching a soccer practice while taking care of her children.  She offered each of them a Popsicle.  She then asked if I wanted one.  “No thank you”, I replied.  I then related a story about being sick for several weeks when I was 12 years old.  All I could handle eating for most of that time were Popsicles.  I loved Popsicles but after that experience I have never had any desire to eat another one.  Just like our soccer player, too much of a good thing damages our passion.

Sometimes a separation from what we love helps us to remember why we love it so much.  Just ask any player who has to sit out for a while with an injury.  (Michael Owen must really love the game.)  Am I suggesting that soccer players quit for a while to “find the passion”?  Sometimes this is forced on an athlete by injury.  I think that like in any situation that an athlete cannot focus all of his or her life on just one thing even though they are fanatically passionate about it.  I recently observed an academy team that had played two full matches in one day and when the rest of us would be icing something and watching TV these boys were playing futsal, for hours afterward.  I loved seeing their passion but I couldn’t help but think about how many years they could maintain that passion.

I believe that we all need balance in our lives.  Athletes should take time to develop other skills, hobbies or passions because they might be one ACL or tib-fib fracture away from the end of their sports career.  It’s also important during breaks from the game that the soccer player do other activities and spend at least 2 or more weeks away from the game to recharge their batteries both physically and emotionally.  Please feel free to share your thoughts about burnout.