Even youth club players are going to cover a lot of ground in a soccer match and so it's imperative that they build a base of endurance, preferably well before the season starts. For coaches it would not be out of the realm of reality to expect your youth athletes to be able to run at least 3 miles before your pre-season training starts. Working up to 6 miles is very doable but keep in mind that no one just jogs for 6 miles per game. There is a lot of stop and start, sprinting and jogging, cutting and turning as well as a good deal of wrestling for position. These all add to the need for overall fitness. By the start of the season you should expect your players to be able to run at a variety of speeds for the full 90 minutes.
A good way to build this kind of variable running endurance is by including in your training some hill runs. If you live and train in an area that has varied terrain then you are lucky that you can utilize the geography to improve your training sessions. Remember as well that the game is not played on pavement. Running on grass or on dirt trails has a couple of advantages. First, it's a bit harder and so the athlete gets an addition to their workload. Second, the uneven ground helps build ankle strength which is of course very important in this game. If you happen to live somewhere flat like Denmark or Kansas then you can add speed changes in a manner that simulates the changes in a soccer match.
I had a player once who always complained when I made the team run. "I hate running," he would say. I told him that soccer is all about running and that maybe he should look into playing baseball instead. He did. Fortunately he was a pretty good baseball player. As players become more fit they will enjoy the game more. How many games involve 2 very evenly matched squads as far as skills are concerned but one has more endurance? My money is on the team with the endurance.
Here is a very basic 5 week endurance building program for players 14 and over based on the assumption that they can do about 3 miles without resting:
Week 1: Monday - 3 miles, easy pace on level ground.
Thursday - 3 miles, easy pace on level ground with a few easy hills or medium sprints.
Week 2: Monday - 4 miles, easy pace on level ground
Thursday - 4 miles, easy pave with a few hills or medium sprints
Week 3: Monday - 5 miles, easy pace on varied terrain
Thursday - 5 miles medium pace with hills and/or a few all-outsprints
Week 4: Monday - 6 miles, easy pace on level ground
Thursday - 6 miles, easy pace with a few hills or medium sprints
Week 5: Monday - 6 miles, easy pace level ground
Thursday - 6 miles, with several hills and sprints
This is just a suggestion that can be adapted for any group based on age and ability. For an elite team this shouldn't be impossible. Doing these long runs on Mondays and Thursdays allows time for the athletes to recover adequately. This also assumes that your athletes are doing core exercises and playing or doing soccer drills on the other days. Make sure your athletes are well hydrated and watch for signs of fatigue with your players. I encourage elite athletes to keep a "Fitness Diary" that logs their workouts and includes several things like weather, mood, and morning resting heart-rate. This last one is a very useful and simple measure for an athlete to use. By checking his or her heart-rate every morning before getting out of bed, one can avoid overworking. This resting heart-rate should actually decrease as one gets more fit. If the trend goes up then the athlete is overdoing it. To check a heart rate have your athlete feel for a pulse on their wrist or neck and count how many beats they have in 15 seconds and multiply by four, or 10 seconds and multiply by six.
Have a great week!
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