Aerobic power/cardio-vascular endurance.

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Aerobic power/cardio-vascular endurance

I have chosen very high for this requirement of sport because although the football pitch itself is not very long the game will often go from end to end and the mid fielders will have to follow the game up and down the pitch for as much as 120 minutes if the game goes into extra time.

On average a midfield player will run 9-13 kilometres a match which obviously requires a lot of endurance if the player wishes to keep a good pace of play throughout the game; yet not all of this is jogging, some is spent sprinting and some is spent walking. This is a pie chart that shows on average what percentage of that 9-13 kilometres is spent doing:

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So if we say a midfield player had run 10 kilometres in a game on average 4.6 kilometres of that would be jogging, 1.7 kilo metres of high speed running and 0.3 kilometres of sprinting. Although the have resting periods where they walking, after sprinting or running and high speeds

Anaerobic power/speed

Footballers require high anaerobic power and speed because although they are playing for around 90 minutes and must have high endurance but as you can see and high percentage of their time on the field they are either running at high speed or sprinting which obviously requires anaerobic power speed.

Although football players must be able to endure high speeds and sprinting for quite long periods of time; which requires fast twitch muscles, yet there are two types of fast twitch muscle: fast twitch glycolitic muscle fibres (FTG) and fast oxidative glycolitic muscle fibres (FOG). Footballers and most team sport players will have the greatest advantage with FOGs because these tale the best points from fast twitch glycolitic muscle fibres (such as long fast firing motor neurons, ATPase for rapid production of ATP for energy, and large muscle fibre width) and combine them with the best characteristics of slow twitch muscle fibres (such as higher capillary density, higher myoglobin content and a large mitochondrial density).

This gives FOG muscle fibres not only the capacity for rapid and very forceful contraction, but also the ability to have cardio-vascular endurance due to a good blood supply (through the high capillary density) and also the ability to keep a high concentration gradient (through high myoglobin content). This gives the footballer not only very fast explosive contractions but the ability to endure these types of contractions for longer periods of time than FTG muscle fibres.

Explosive leg power

Footballers require very high explosive leg power because in order to play the game effectively sometimes it requires for you too either kick the ball very hard, go into a tackle very hard and accelerate/sprint very quickly.

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Explosive leg power

For example in order for a defender/goal keeper to clear their lines effectively they may have to hit the ball with a lot of explosive leg power or for an attacker to make their shot effective they may have to strike the ball very hard. Also in tackling situations a player going in for a 50/50 challenge will need great leg power in order to try and come out with the ball. In defensive situations a player will often have to accelerate extremely quickly if they wish to try and catch a player making a run or a player who has taken the ball past them.

Without any explosive leg power at all a football player will not only be disadvantaged in terms of being able to use the ball efficiently but also in term of physical presence on the field, if their opposing players on the pitch all have much more explosive leg power they will be left with a distinct disadvantage.

Arm and shoulder strength

Football players require high arm and shoulder strength (in particularly at a professional level) because a team with players which have a much greater physically presence in term of arms and shoulders they can dominate the game despite the opposition possibly being more skilful on the ball.

For example if a central midfielder is constantly losing all the 50/50 challenges and is continuously being bundled off the ball and tackled easily then they are going to be taken totally out of the match. If a player has very little arm and shoulder strength then it will be hard for them to challenge for balls in the air as they may well be easily shrugged away. Also from an attacking point of view arm and shoulder strength is important, as it’s not often that a player will be given a totally free simple chance for a shot on goal, they will often be under pressure and must be able to fend defenders off not only with ball control and skill but with upper body strength.

Arm and shoulder strength and endurance

Footballers must have good arm and shoulder strength because the use of arm and shoulders is very important, more important than most un professional players realize, but the professional game can sometimes be won or lost simply on the presence of arm and shoulder strength throughout the whole 90 minutes.

If when defending you can no longer out do your opposing attacking players for strength in the last few minutes of a game it could be the difference between winning or losing. This is why players must have good arm and shoulder strength endurance as they may be playing for a full 90 minutes in which most of that will be spent pushing and shoving with other players in order to get the advantage. If a player can’t keep their strength up for the full 90 minutes they could possibly lose the match in the dying moments.

Abdominal strength and endurance

Football players don’t often use their abdominals apart from in the aiding of their breathing, as players will be constantly running and particularly just after a spurt of sprinting player must be able to catch their breathe again in order to then carry on running to either get up the pitch or get back to begin defending. This doesn’t necessitate particularly strong abdominals but it does require some endurance to able to keep their cardio-vascular system strong enough for 90 minutes.

Having good abdominal strength and endurance will also aid their general upper body strength which will obviously aid their play. Also a player may be twisting and turning for a lot of the time during a match and having quite good abdominal endurance can aid this.

Joint mobility/flexibility

Football players don’t require great flexibility although it can aid some parts of their play. For example when stretching to make a tackle having good supple joints can only aid them in this sense. Also in situations where they must stretch to reach a header or reach a ball coming across the box to either tap it on or turn it away.

Agility

Football player’s must be very agile in order to be successful attacking and defending players, as having very good agility can assist a player in various situations.

The most obvious situations in terms of defending are when you must be changing direction very quickly to try and tackle or block off the ball carrier. A great example from the Premiership at the moment is Christiano Ronaldo who often uses varies tricks and dummies to try and fool a defender, and when he eventually commits to going in one direction the defender must often have to be very agile in order to try and catch him.

The exact same agility must be present if the situation is turned around, if when attacking the player isn’t agile enough on the ball to beat players then they will solely have to rely on their passing of the ball. Some players are skilful enough with their passing enough to do this but central mid field players must be inept at all parts of the game if they wish to be successful.

Balance

In most sports the participants must have good balance in order to become professionals, and football is no exception, in almost every part of the game the player requires very good balance in order to be effective at defending and attacking.

Some good examples of where very good balance is particularly important are when either defending against the ball carrier or being the ball carrier your self. For example if you are running up along side the player carrying the ball and he has stronger upper body strength than you then you may be easily shrugged off the ball or to the ground unless you can keep your footing well, even if the defending player is unable to tackle the player the mere being there will put the attacker under pressure and make it much more difficult for him to get an effective shot or pass in. So simply staying on their feet is important in defensive and also in the vice versa situation when attacking.

Co-ordination

A football player with poor co-ordination is going to be very limited in many situations, mainly in terms of distribution and attacking situations. For example if a player is carrying the ball it is vital that they have very good co-ordination they will be able to carry the ball effectively and also look up and see the ever changing environment around them. This means that they can see their team mates making runs and moving into space which opens passing options and also they can see their opponents and if someone is closing them down or not. Also by having good co-ordination it helps you to move into positions where the ball carrier can pass it too you, as you can be watching your opponents as well as your team mate to see what positions will be an effective passing opportunity for their team mates.

This also occurs in defensive situations, as you can be watching the ball carrier coming toward you but at the same time watch what the rest of the opposition is doing and also which players are being marked by your team mates so you can then try and block off or intercept any passes which you can see the opponent might be thinking of playing because of very good co-ordination.

Reaction time

Reaction times are important for most sports, in particularly team sport/ball sports where when attacking and defending players must react too many stimuli as the opposition s controlling the play at that time. In football reaction times are important because when the opponents are in possession you are constantly having too react to the movements and passes they are making, so essentially you are constantly having to react, some times having fast reaction times is helpful. Yet essentially most of the time players are reacting to stimuli which don’t require fast reaction times at all.

Although it’s useful to have fast reaction times in situations where the player you’re marking is coming at you with the ball, this doesn’t happen very often as a mid field player in a match.

Timing

Timing goes almost hand in hand with being a professional footballer, it is extremely important for all players to have when defending and attacking. Situations where players may be using their timing can be when going in for a tackle, going up for a header, passing the ball, making a run off or on the ball and basically every footballing situation that can be imagined because without it it’s easy to mid judge the skill you are trying to carry out.

For example if you can’t time your runs properly then you will either be caught off side or the defender will beat you to the pass coming from your team mate. Or when going up for a header if you don’t time your jump correctly you might be dropping downwards as it reaches you; either causing it to go straight over you or bounce off the top off your head and fall behind you. Even simple things like dribbling the ball require timing in order to carry out, if you can’t time when and where you must be hitting the ball you might get it caught up in your feet or kick it too far in front of you.