In Sweden there’s been kind of a trend to do a lot of long distance running during the first part of the pre-season, and then as you progress towards the regular season you start to decrease the distance the players are running.

When you first think about it, it looks like a pretty decent idea, right?

Well, it isn’t. I am so tired of hearing coaches talk about “creating a conditioning foundation for the players so they have base to stand on” when the season starts. But here’s where it gets weird in my opinion.

I’ve always had a relatively high success rate against penalties, certainly managing to predict the right way even if the pace beat me, and again I fancied my chances. As a goalkeeper I was a natural loner and this situation always suited me to a tee…….me against them. I eyeballed the striker and watched his body language; I was diving to my right. At what height he hit the ball was then down to pure chance but I knew that I was playing the percentages in my favour and all I had to do was get in the way. With the eyes of my new teammates piercing the tension, not to mention the sub keeper in the dugout who’s place I’d pinched upon my arrival at the club; I knew I was under pressure. The striker placed the ball after I’d eventually given it back to him and started to pace out his run up. I was in no doubt which side he was shooting and as he struck the ball I took my initial step into the dive. BOOM! The ball cannoned off my knee, in fact the same knee as earlier, and rebounded to the relative safety of their full back on the touchline where he was dispossessed by our striker with a well timed sliding tackle. It is always a buzz when your team mates crowd round for the obligatory high fives and pats on the back, but even more so when you’ve just clawed yourself out the hole in which you dropped yourself in the first place. We subsequently went on to win the game 2-0 and as a direct result topped the table of which we would eventually finish second after a long arduous season.

I have been the head coach of my current team for about 1,5 years now, and during that period, we have done a total of 3 sessions (!) where we exclusively focused on conditioning, not related to regular soccer training. Those 3 sessions where done as a Plan B because our training field was covered in snow.

Our philosophy on conditioning for soccer players is that everything can (and should) be performed on the soccer field, during regular soccer training. And most of those sessions can be done with the soccer ball.

For instance, let me give you one example of one of the absolute best drills to improve the players condition as well as their ability to make good decisions during a soccer game:

= Small-Sided Games

The variations are endless, and by making a few small adjustments, you make these drills so intense and demanding that it’s insane.

At the end of a game when the players are tired, the team where the players can make the best decisions is the team that will win the game. Sure, you may be able to run a mile at a pretty decent time, but that’s got nothing to do with soccer.

You need to be able to perform a lot of high intensity runs and recover quickly, and maintain you mental state and make good decisions when you are tired!

So by doing a lot of small-sided games where you play for instance 4 vs 4, you can make the drill more intense and demanding by having the players play man-to-man defense, meaning when they lose the ball, they have one player they should mark and follow all over the field, no matter what!

That’s a great conditioning drill, and best of all – it’s fun!

To sum it up – conditioning should be done on the soccer field (at the end of the practice) and it should be maintained all year round, even during in-season

Resource Box Allen Austrot
Best Low Home Mortgage Refinance Interest Rate
Mortgage and Refinance Mortgage Loan from
Disfruta de los mejores juegos gratis en flash