2012 St. Thomas Aquinas Boys Soccer
Summer Conditioning:
Our pre-season tryouts are designed to add game fitness to
players already in shape. It is NOT designed to take unfit players to game
fitness in just two weeks. This would be an impossible task and attempts to do
this might lead to significant injury. Competition for both the Varsity and
Junior Varsity Teams will be strong and fitness will play a major deciding role.
This summer training program should be followed closely, as closely as possible,
but make sensible allowances for camps, summer tournaments or other vigorous
physical activity.
Five areas of training are emphasized:
1.
Endurance
2. Speed
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Ball Skills
A great aerobic base and the ability to run for long periods of time are crucial for success in soccer. But, endurance is not the only conditioning component soccer players need. Instead of focusing entirely on Long Slow Distance running, they should simulate the workload of a typical match by practicing change-of-speed and change-of-direction. Such training also develops aerobic capacity, which allows you to withstand a games constant pace.
Conditioning takes time and effort.
Monday: Continuous running for 30
minutes (minimum) to 45 minutes (maximum). Keep moving, Vary
direction and speed
(Keep a record of time and see how you progress each week)
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Tuesday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Wednesday: Warm-up with a 1 mile
jog. Then jog 400 yards and sprint 50yards. Repeat the Jog/Sprint
routine six times.
(Recovery time is important)
Thursday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Friday: Warm-up with a 1 mile jog. Then time yourself for 15 minutes and count how
many laps or distance you can complete.
Saturday: Continuous running for 30
minutes (minimum) to 45 minutes (maximum).
(Keep a record of time and try to go longer than Monday's)
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Sunday: Day OFF
Monday: After warm-up, run a hard, all out 1 mile. (time yourself to see where you are at)
Then a 10 minute recovery jog. Then go for 10 sprints (50yards) down with a jog back to the start.
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Tuesday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Wednesday: Jog mile. Then for the next mile do a 50 yards sprint/50 yards jog. (This means you are sprinting half of the time for a mile)
Jog mile to cool down.
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Thursday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Friday: Jog mile. 2 sets of 8 x 100 yards. Each 100 yards should get faster and faster.
Recovery time between 100s is 30 seconds. Between sets go for a mile jog.
Saturday: After warm-up, run a hard, all out 1 mile. (time yourself to see where you are at)
Then a 10 minute recovery jog. Then go to for 10 sprints (50yards) down with a jog back to the start.
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Sunday: Day OFF
Monday: Jog mile. Then run
400 yards hard. Jog 400 yards slow until you run 2 miles ( total of 9
ending on the hard run) . Jog a mile to cool down.
(To help you judge distance 400 yards is a lap around the outside of the varsity
soccer field)
Tuesday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Wednesday: Warm-up with a 1 mile jog. Then jog 400 m (= 1 Lap) and sprint 50. Repeat the Jog/Sprint routine eight times. (Recovery time is important)
Thursday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Friday: Warm-up with a 1 mile jog. Then time yourself for 15 minutes and count how
many laps you can complete. (Try to get more laps than last time)
Saturday: Soccer juggling, one touch passing, dribbling inside outside of foot
Sunday: Day OFF
Week 4 July 30,
2012
Monday: After warm-up, jog 2 minutes, sprint 50m. Jog 2 minutes, sprint 100 m. Repeat this pattern for 30 minutes.
Tuesday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Wednesday: Continuous running
for 40 minutes (minimum) to 70 minutes (maximum). Keep moving, Vary
direction and speed
(Keep a record of time and see how you progress each week)
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Thursday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Friday: Continuous running for 40
minutes (minimum) to 70 minutes (maximum). Keep moving, Vary
direction and speed
(Keep a record of time and see how you progress each week)
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Saturday: Soccer juggling, one touch passing, dribbling inside outside of foot
Sunday: Day OFF
Monday: Jog mile. Then for
the next 1.5 miles do a 50 m sprint/50 m jog.
(This means you are sprinting half of each hall for a mile) Jog mile to
cool down.
Tuesday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Wednesday: Continuous running
for 45 minutes (minimum) to 80 minutes (maximum). Keep moving, Vary
direction and speed
(Keep a record of time and see how you progress each week)
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Thursday: Work on Ball Skills - see *1 below
Friday: Continuous running for
45 minutes (minimum) to 80 minutes (maximum). Keep moving, Vary
direction and speed
(Keep a record of time and see if you can add on Wednesday's time)
After running work on flexibility with stretching exercises. See *2 below
Saturday: Saturday Option 1 (Phase 1 3 Day conditioning program)
Sunday: Day OFF
Monday: Report
to St. Thomas Varsity Field at 7am Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores. 1pm
for all Freshmen.
Link to Preseason Schedule
*1 - BALL SKILLS:
Tips
to remember
- Buy your shoes early in the summer so they are broken in.
-
The off season is the best time to improve your ball skills!
- Practice with
a ball at least 30 minutes 4 times a week.
- Ask a friend, parent, brother,
or sister to work with you.
- Work on BOTH feet
- Find a WALL and use it.
Its a great way to improve your touch and your shot.
- Become really good
(this means you are confident enough to use the move in a game) at 2-3 dribbling
moves.
- Everybody should work on juggling, first touch, trapping, and
passing accuracy. Possession of the ball is absolutely necessary
for success
in a soccer match. Expert juggling, first touch and passing control are
extremely important!
- Work on what you will need. FULLBACKS long clears;
STRIKERS hard low shots and a few expert moves,
MIDFIELDERS long shots
and accurate passes with just the right pace on through-balls.
- THERE WILL
BE VOLUNTARY SKILLS/GAMES SESSIONS THROUGHOUT SUMMER.
We will have voluntary pick up games on Thursday nights at St. Thomas at 6pm.
Anyone from both the Girls or
Boys teams are welcome to come.
July 12, 19 and 26 and August 2
*2 - FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility is
critical to improve performance and decrease injury. Follow these guidelines:
- Warm up with some calisthenics or jogging for 5 minutes before stretching.
Work ball touches into this if possible.
- Warm up well before sprint work.
Pay special attention to your hamstrings.
- Stretch at least 5 - 10 minutes
before and after athletic activity. Especially after!
- Stretch a muscle to
the point of slight discomfort, hold for 30 seconds, then rest a few seconds and
repeat.
DO NOT BOUNCE THE MUSCLE.
- Concentrate on muscle groups that give
you the most trouble
- Stretch when you have extra time (e.g. Watching TV)
SOCCER KNOWLEDGE
To be a complete player
you need to develop your ability to READ THE GAME. What does this mean? It means
understanding soccer well enough to look at the situation on the field and guess
correctly what will happen next or where the next opportunity will be. This
allows you to make quick decisions that beat your opponents. Watching soccer
videos or games on TV is a good way to enhance your ability beyond what you
learn playing. Note how easy it is (when youre watching a game) to see what
players on the field could have done better. Other athletes, such as football
players, use this technique successfully. It can be easily applied to
soccer.
Take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about the game of
soccer. You can learn something every day that will
help you to help your
Saints Team be more successful.
goSTAsoccer.com
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