Hi Everyone, In this next edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, I discuss the importance of carbohydrate intake for optimal performance and recovery in soccer, and why low-carbohydrate diets are not a good choice for soccer players or any other athletes. I hope you like it and as always, please feel free to [...]
Last week, I had the pleasure to meet and speak with John Vanderkolk, who is something of a pioneer in Canadian Soccer. The former Governor and co-founder of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and member of the Heritage Committee of the Ontario Soccer Association has worked for over 40 years in the sport as [...]
Hi everyone. This post is a follow-up to my Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog from February 13th of this year. I got some responses to the video – positive and negative – and as a result I thought I would elaborate on it with a short article, to try to explain this issue in a [...]
Soccer is a sport which requires a unique combination of anaerobic and aerobic fitness. That is, elite level soccer players must possess speed and jumping power, as well as aerobic endurance and recovery, similar to elite track and field athletes. The sport also requires a significant amount of very specific movements, including accelerating/decelerating, cutting and [...]
It's that time of year again! December that is - when almost all youth soccer clubs and academies give their players "time off" from their regularly scheduled training and games. But what exactly should soccer players be doing during this time off? Is it meant to be a break from all forms of exercise, or [...]
On Saturday, December 10th, in -4 degrees Celsius weather at Toronto’s packed BMO Field, the Seattle Sounders defeated Toronto FC in the 2016 MLS Cup final, 4-3 via a penalty shoot-out, after a scoreless draw over 120 minutes. How did they do it? By all accounts, TFC appeared to have dominated the game. They held [...]
I have been obsessed with trying to find the perfect way to train for soccer since I was in high school, and I haven’t been in high school since 1999. Over the almost 20 years which have passed since then, my obsession has provided me with the opportunity to start my own business; to work [...]
I enjoyed my first opportunity to work in professional soccer this year, when I was hired as Fitness Coach for Canadian SC Uruguay, a professional soccer club in the Uruguayan Segunda (2nd Division). I was fortunate to have been given this opportunity by Canadians SC's head coach, Rafael Carbajal, an Uruguayan Canadian who had previously been working [...]
Today was an off-day, because the Academy matches were cancelled due to thunderstorms which continued basically all day long. I did get to meet up with my friend and colleague who will also be working with Canadian SC, sports scientist Farzad Yousefian of Sports Performance Analytics Inc. We watched the UEFA Euro quarter-final match between [...]