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.
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