There are coaches in many different sports who believe that athletes should specialize in their sport very early – training only in their sport, almost every day, from a very young age – sometimes as young as 9 or 10 years old. Other coaches prefer late specialization, where an athlete trains in multiple sports throughout elementary and even [...]
Over the past 10 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly everyone in the world, from children to the elderly, public sector employees to private business owners, and of course, front-line health care workers and medical staff. Sports have endured large-scale shut-downs, cancellations, postponements of athletic training and competition, at both the amateur and professional levels, and everything in between. Of course, over the Summer and [...]
For more on this topic check out our FREE webinar - Prescribe & Monitor Training Load Without Expensive, Time Consuming & Hard to Use Technology. Periodization is fast becoming a popular buzz word among soccer coaches and fitness coaches. Last summer, the city of Toronto became captivated by the Toronto Raptors’ first-ever NBA [...]
Female soccer players are – and have always been – at a high risk of sustaining injuries, especially during their teenage years. Numerous causal factors for this high injury risk have been described and documented in scientific literature, among them the anatomical changes that occur in females’ bodies post-puberty, such as a widening of the [...]
Imagine this scenario: you coach two players who compete for a starting spot at right fullback. In the past four pre-season matches, both players have had equal playing time, and each has started two out of the four matches. One of the players – let’s call him player “A” – has played well overall in [...]
In what I hope will be my final PhD coursework assignment, I was recently required to collect a set of data, and then analyse it using MATLAB, a multi-paradigm numerical computing software used by computer programmers, and biomechanics students like me. Naturally, I decided to collect some data on soccer. My rationale for choosing the [...]
On Sunday, July 15th, in front of a packed crowd at Moscow’s Luzhinski Stadium, the French National Soccer Team won their second FIFW World Cup, beating Croatia – who were making their first-ever appearance at an international final of any kind – by a final score of 4-2. It was an entertaining match which included [...]
Hi Everyone, Happy New Year! In this edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, I discuss soccer injuries, what soccer players should do if and when they are injured, and we provide specific suggestions to keep players integrated into training and match play when they cannot fully participate. Hope you like it and as [...]
Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable Holiday season! In keeping with the Holiday theme, this edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog discusses the prevalence of "Holiday" soccer camps that run throughout the December/January Christmas break, and whether or not it is worthwhile for young soccer players to participate [...]