Personal Exercise Program-

Improving Performance in Football

Introduction

Football is the most widely played team game in the world and the most popular spectator sport, followed avidly by millions of fans. It is an eleven a side field game played with a spherical ball. The object of the game is to score more goals than your opponents by propelling the ball into the opposition’s goal. You do this by passing, moving and tackling in all areas of the fifty by one hundred yard pitch. This is why tactics and strategies often play a large role in determining the games outcome. Football is a competitive sport and is known as an invasion game, and by gaining territory through passing, dribbling or intercepting you are gaining an advantage for your team. A referee is the only man/woman on the field who does not belong to either of the two teams competing in the game; he is there to reinforce the many laws of the game. Corners, throw ins and goal kicks are awarded to teams when the ball goes out of play. At present, games are played in large stadiums and players receive up to £160,000 per week for playing football at the highest professional level. There are various cups and trophy’s that teams compete for throughout the season, which runs from the end of August to the end of May. There are also national teams where the most talented players from the country come together to play in competitions such as the world cup against other nations.

Football is a multiple sprint sport, where the player spends some of the time sprinting, while other times running fast, running slowly, walking or standing still. Depending on the position of the player on the field and the level at which the game is played, varying degrees of fitness and combinations of components of fitness are needed. One of the greatest advantages of football is that derivatives of the game, such as five-a-side, can be played indoors in sports halls and outdoors on any piece of land available and with fewer players than normal for the full version of the game. Many games of five-a-side are played in the street, on the beach, or on a piece of waste ground with minimal facilities and little organisation. This is what allows so many different types of people to enjoy the sport.

However football is not as easy as it seems and with strenuous fitness requirements players must train hard in order to play hard. The sport is 60% aerobic and 40% anaerobic. The performer has high cardiovascular demands as he must play continuously for two 45 minute periods, muscular endurance, agility, muscular strength and coordination are just some of the other demands set on a player in a football game. I shall go into further detail with the progression of my project. I play in the school representative side for my year group. I participate in football related activity four times per week for about 7-8 hours. However, football has a ‘season time’ which runs from September to May and in off season I do much less football related activity than in season. In fact my training rate goes from 7-8 hours to about 4 hours per week.

Because demands are so high on professional players, they train intensely for a long period of time using many different schemes/methods all through the year, be it in season or off season. In off season much of the preparation for the following season is done. So if improvements are to be made to different parts of a player’s fitness, it will be done during the off season.

Techniques and Skills Associated with Football

There are so many different techniques to do with football I will only show you the basics, however you must understand that these basics are elaborated and extended for the professional standard.

Soccer kicking techniques range from basic shooting and passing skills up advanced techniques, such as bending the ball around a wall and overhead kicks.

               

The photographs demonstrate the right and wrong way to kick a football. The instep, the part of the foot where the laces are, provides both power and control. The most common mistake made by beginners is to use the toe. Not only is this painful if somebody tackles hard when you are trying to kick, but it is terribly inaccurate. The advantage of the instep is that it presents a flat surface to the ball, and can also be used to make the ball swerve and dip.

The non-kicking foot provides support, and should be bent as you kick. When we want to keep the ball on the ground, the head is down, over the ball. The follow-through should be long and smooth, and another useful tip is to approach the kick slightly from the side whenever possible.

This basic soccer kicking technique is often overlooked, because it is so simple. The real skill is being able to kick accurately whilst under pressure, and it is far more important to consistently excel at this basic skill than to be able to perform fancy tricks.

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Soccer heading techniques are vital for air power in the game of football. The team that dominates in the air can win the ball in the vital danger zone in front of the six yard box both when defending and attacking, and that team can win the ball from long goal kicks. Heading skills also enable a team to use the long ball tactic bombarding the opposition with long passes towards their penalty area.

The correct part of the head to use is the forehead as shown in the photograph. This is the hardest and flattest part of ...

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