The sport im going to work on an aspect of is football. I play for my local team on a Sunday afternoon and train once a week, I also play on random nights of the week with my mates on the Astroturf and play once a week in P.E.
I think im quite fast and strong and also quite fit endurance wise but the main thing that I think is letting down my game and needs to be improved is my agility. I seem quite flat-footed and would like to be more agile to beat players with the ball and to stay controlled when approached by an attacker.
In football I play right wing, which requires me to be agile, and I think my game would be greatly improved if I were more so.
It would improve: -
- Ability to change direction to race away from a defender to get the ball.
- Tern quickly with the ball to evade defenders at speed.
- From still, move at speed away.
- Keep control of the ball, running at players at speed and being able to tern quickly and race off at speed.
- Standing on feet at in control of when approached by a player and being able to tern and change speed as they do.
On television, players such as Ryan Giggs and Thierry Henry show an exceptional level of agility on and off the ball and it really shows.
Agility can be measured by the Illinois agility run.
Lie face down and complete the course as fast as possible.
Illinois Agility Run
The Principles of training
To become fitter we need to train. To train effectively we should follow the following principles:
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Specificity
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Progression
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Overload
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Reversibility
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Tedium
What is specificity?
The effects of training are very specific. When training for sport we need to be specific about the muscles/muscle groups that we concentrate on, otherwise the training is just pointless for you.
Example- sprinters include a large amount of speed work in their training; this ensures that the fast twitch fibres are fully developed.
What is progression?
When we increase the amount of exercise we do, we place added stress on the body systems. We must add this stress in a progressive or gradual way. Too much progression can cause injury. Too little can lead to staleness or boredom.
What is overload?
We need to stress our bodies. This means we need to make them work harder than normal. Our bodies will gradually adapt to cope with this extra work and will become fitter.
What is reversibility?
Our bodies can become just as easily unfit as they can fit. This means to maintain fitness we need to work hard at the right level all of the time. If we stop our bodies will get used to the less stress thus becoming unfit.
What is tedium?
Tedium should be avoided in all training programs. We need so keep our enthusiasm by using different training methods.
Along with this we should use a range of different surfaces to reduce risk of injury.
Planning a training program
Frequency Intensity Time Type
When planning a fitness program we should arrange to-
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Train frequently so body can adapt.
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Work intensively (harder) than normal to make sure body systems adapt.
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Train for longer period of time, making sessions longer and longer.
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Develop the right type of fitness and skills we need for our sport that we wish to get fit for.
What should we put in our individual training sessions?
We should divide our training sessions into four phases:
- Warm up
- Fitness
- Skill development
- Warm down
Warm up
Warm up should include:
- A period of gentle exercise using the whole body, for example jogging. This will gradually increase heart rate and breathing, ensure blood flow to our muscles gradually increases, prepares muscles and gets you mentally ready for the task at hand.
- Gentle stretching. We should work on the joints most likely to be used during the game.
- Practice general skills and techniques, for example passing the ball and shooting.
Fitness
The fitness activities we use will depend on the demands of the sport. If we follow the warm up with a fitness session we must ensure that we aren’t too tired for the skill development. It is better to do a fitness session after the skill development phase.
Skill development stage
This is the time we develop to our particular sport. If we are team players we will need to develop our individual techniques. We also need to develop group skills and teamwork so small competitive games are useful for enhancing performance.
Warm Down
We should always finish a training session with a period of lighter exercise. Light exercise reduces the recovery time necessary to move carbon dioxide and lactic acid out of the body. This also ensures the blood keeps flowing properly and does not pool in the skeletal muscles.
Starting the my fitness program
Warm up
Jog around a badminton court.
- Gentle jog twice around court.
- Side step once around facing inwards.
- Side step once around facing outwards.
- Gentle jog once around.
- High knees around half, jog next half then on second time around it again.
- Feet to bum around half, jog next half then on second time around it again.
- Sprint length of court, jog width, sprint length and then jog width.
- Very gentle jog, slowing down into walking.
For stretches see over page
Week 1 – The Test & Week 6- Final Test
- Warm up.
- 3 times over Illinois agility run.
Important to complete as fast as possible for best result
Results from test in 1st week
After each test I rested for 5 minutes to make sure I was back to resting before I did the test to ensure best results
The final test was run and tested in the exact same way and on the exact same surface to make sure they’re fair.
My results
Evaluation
The results are clear, there has been an improvement in my agility from testing myself in the first week to testing myself in the 6th week after training for 5 weeks in-between.
Good points in my program I thought were:
- I used a variety of training methods.
- I made sure that to so I wouldn’t get bored (tedium) I trained on a variety of surfaces such as both gyms, the sports hall and on a football pitch.
- I also, to reduce tedium, trained with a friend to make it enjoyable and for a little bit of competition. Without having a partner I think that my training program wouldn’t have been as successful because I would have been prone to give up and got bored.
- I used the equipment we had to its full potential and used all the possible resources.
Bad points about my fitness program were:
- Although I used the equipment we had well, I think it could have been more successful if we hade more of what we already have and a larger selection.
- I had to share my equipment and wait for it when I needed it.
- We had very little time. The lesson only an hour long and by the time you get to the lesson and get changed into kit, sometimes 15 minutes had already been wasted.
- I would have liked to go out onto the grass on more occasions but the weather was too bad and the pitches were waterlogged so I couldn’t.
- There wasn’t as much space as I would have liked in the sports hall.
What could I have done to improve my fitness program?
- I could have come in after school to train but on a lot of the days I had sport after school or just didn’t have time.
- I could have done a little more research into training techniques for agility in the library, sports books, teachers or the Internet.
- I could have had a competition with my partner that maybe tested who improved the best over the 5 weeks. This would make me work harder and add extra motivation into it, which is a factual characteristic that helps improve performance.
- I could have introduced more friends also to take away the currently limited tedium.
If I was going to extend my program I would:
- Use more techniques to improve.
- Do more skipping through cones and changing pace by accelerating off and slowing back down.
- Used more of a ball in my training because it was aimed to improve my football including my dribbling and I don’t think that I did enough dribbling skills.
- Set goals to achieve in a certain space of time.
- Tested myself half way through or even on numerous occasions to test how I am doing and push me to improve if I’m not reaching my goals.
Conclusion
I think that my program was successful considering time I had and facilities. I followed the principles of training as well as I could and it paid off.
I have noticed a difference in my game when it comes to agility. I feel more comfortable on and off the ball. Part of this I think is because I know I have improved so I’m more confident in my ability. I have enjoyed doing the training program and I think will do one in my own personal time to improve other aspects of my game at a later stage while still doing regular agility training so my fitness doesn’t tire.
