I found that when I did the last drill which was starting on the service line and working was the one i got the most improvement out of as it learns you how hard to hit the ball. I felt I improved quite a lot with my serves and became more confortable.
NEX SESSION I WILL
In the next session I will go through the 4 drills until I get to the level required, in the next session I will also spend longer on the ball tossing as I feel that was my main weakness.
2nd session
Wednesday 10th july
9am wet and windy
THE AIMS OF THE SESSION
Continue working on the aspects of serve
- Quickly go through the correct serving stance.
- Practice ball toss with circular ring on court.
- Play catch with partner to get into the motion of serving.
- Practice the service motion from the service line to the baseline 10 serves for each step back.
AFTER THE SESSION
I felt that I improved again especially on the ball toss, which went much better than last time. However the conditions made it quite difficult with regards to how I wanted to hit the ball. The conditions meant that I had a lower success rate when serving. The serve motion has helped me to improve my final motion when I hit the ball this also improved my tossing of the ball.
NEXT SESSION I WILL
After improving in all the above aspects in the next session I will be trying more complicated things some of these will be to practice a full swing motion, establish a rhythm and tossing ball in front of me. These things should hopefully continue to improve my serve.
3rd session
Friday 12th july
9am mild conditions
THE AIMS OF THE SESSION
Continue working on the aspects of serving
- Play catch with my partner to get back into the swing of serving.
- Practice full swing motion, only swinging at 50% power. Starting at the service line and working back to the baseline.
- Establish a rhythm by saying what you will do because it may help to establish a tempo and rhythm.
- By tossing ball in front of me it will allow me to bring back foot round into court in order for me to get ready for next shot.
AFTER THE SESSION
I found this was quite a bad session as most of my serves either hit the net or went wide. I think this was because I was only hitting at 50% power meaning I didn’t hit the ball with enough conviction. Because I am not used to hitting at 50% power my point of contact may have been wrong.
In addition to this I felt that shouting out what I was going to do didn’t help me it seemed to put me off more than anything. The easiest thing was taking a step as it set me up for the next shot.
NEXT SESSION I WILL
As today’s session didn’t go well In the next session I will be going over some of today’s bad points before putting everything into a game situation.
4th session
Monday 15th July
9am windy
THE AIMS OF THE SESSION
In this final session I will be aiming to finish all aspects of serving
- Practice ball toss again to get back into swing of serving.
- Continue practicing full swing motion, only swinging at 50% power. Starting at the service line and working back to the baseline.
- If the above point is good enough practice full serve with full power starting from baseline this time.
- Try aiming where you want the ball to land by making a circular ring to aim for.
- Put everything I have learnt into a game situation.
AFTER THE SESSION
In this session I feel I served better than in any of the other sessions. I feel this is because I reviewed my current technique with the correct technique and discovered that my point of contact was incorrect as it wasn’t at the correct angle so I altered this error and practising full serve with 50% power and practising full serve with full power became much easier.
The rest of the session went ok and I beat my partner in the game.
NEXT SESSION I WILL
After completing the aspect of serving and recording all my results. I feel I have improved a lot in serving, as my results compared with pre and post- tests will show. In the next session I will be starting my sessions on backhand.
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION
Conclusion
In general my training programme was successful because it tested each area and principle of fitness that I wanted it to. I think that, my training programme not only tested my fitness and my football skills, it also improved them.
Although it was successful, there were some tests such as the Bleep Test on which I had to rely on earlier results because of the lack of equipment to do it at home. This meant that there would have been some results, which would not have been up to date. This could mean that I could have performed worse or better than my previous school results.
The shuttle runs, this station was very successful. By the end of the week, I had improved my speed as I did more runs in one minute. Improving my speed was an encouraging result of the training programme because; speed is an important factor for playing football. It also improved my agility and the endurance of my quadriceps and hamstrings.
The sit-up exercise was very tiring; after each time I performed this exercise I could feel my abdominal muscles stretching and becoming stronger. I improved throughout the six weeks because as my results show I could do more sit-ups at the end of the training programme than in the beginning of the training programme. But as a whole I improved the strength and endurance of my abdominal muscles.
Chipping balls into hoops, I found this exercise fairly uncomplicated. Although my accuracy and chipping ability are somewhat good, they still improved as a whole.
The shooting exercise tested my shooting (!) and accuracy ability. This was one of the easier stations as shooting isn’t a very backbreaking work out, although I did improve in the six-week period. I could pinpoint a spot between the cones and then usually get it there. This improved my accuracy.
The burpees’ exercise was the exercise that I found quite difficult, during the training programme, as it was very tiring and challenging. Overall, this did improve my agility, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings.
The dribbling exercise was a fairly easy exercise. I have improved on my speed and ball control. I noticed that I could do dribbling faster at the end of the training programme than at the beginning. I also noticed that I was not as tired as I was before.
The kick-ups exercise, I am fairly good at kick-ups already but by the end of the program I was able to keep the ball under control at a lower height than what I started with.
The passing exercise, this exercise tested my right and left foot, my accuracy and my speed, my left foot has improved a lot by doing this exercise, my right foot has slightly improved.
The 12 Minute Cooper Run was a very tiring exercise. It greatly improved my muscular endurance, speed and agility. To do it three times a week was very challenging, but I observed that at the end of the week, I could complete more metres than at the beginning of the week. This was a sign of improvement. I also got rid of the habit to start walking; I kept going at a steady jog throughout the run.
The Bleep Test is an exercise from hell. It is very gruelling and needs a lot of muscular endurance, speed, agility and aerobic capacity. Especially just after completing the 12 minute Cooper Run, the results may have been a bit low. I could not do this test at home, because of the lack of the equipment, and so had to rely on previous results,
I do not find the Harvard Step Test, difficult and I think that my results show that I was above average. I completed two Harvard Step Tests during the training programme. The Harvard Step Test measures my aerobic capacity and my recovery rate and my results show that my fitness index increased during the period of training. This also proves that the training programme helped my pulse and recovery rate which would enhance all of the rest of the exercises.
The pull-ups were not very hard. They tested my muscular strength. I found that after doing the pull-ups my arms were very sore. I learned that it was better to do pull-ups at a constant speed than doing them quickly, because if you do them quickly then you tire out your voluntary muscles very quickly.
I am useless at doing press-ups but I did find that at the beginning of the weak I could only do a couple of press-ups but by the end of the week I could do 12. This tested my muscular strength and maybe muscular endurance.
The standing broad jump and the standing vertical jump were very easy and my results show that my muscular strength in my legs was above average.
The free kick, penalties, headers and volleys exercise tested my accuracy at being able to pinpoint a spot to shoot at. My accuracy is good and I found that I was able to be even more accurate in my shooting and heading.
The sit-and-reach test tested my flexibility and my results show that I was above average.
The Illinois agility run was testing. I learned to speed my way through it, and learned that every second counted. It measured my agility (!) and speed. I was a bit out of breath at the end of the run.
The ‘football assault course’ was just a way to reduce tedium but also to see if I could combine all of my football skills together. The key to the course was speed but also to fulfil each section as best as possible.
I found the training programme to be very intense and tiring, but very effective as my training programme tested all the areas I wanted it to. I was very tired though after completing each week of the program, my muscles were aching and my heart and breathing rate had increased drastically. The positive aspect was that I recovered quicker as I went on in the training programme.
If I were to perform the training programme again I would start by making the exercise time slightly less at the beginning of the program so I could get use to doing the exercises gradually. This would also be overloading because the exercises would get harder.
If I was given another chance to perform he training programme again, I would have included more tests and exercises such as wall-sits, combination tests, dynamometer and shoulder lift test. I would also have compared my skin fold measurement to see if it changed during the training programme. I would expect that it would not change because it would take some time for the fat to reduce. I would also compare the change in my pulse rate during the training programme.
Although I had improved during the six-week period I had only improved slightly, so if I were repeating this programme I would make it last 12 weeks so improvements could be seen more easily. Once the training programme becomes too easy I would have to make it harder (overload) to affect reversibility. If the training programme is not made harder the body will stop improving in the areas of muscular endurance and anaerobic respiration. The body must train regularly to prevent reversibility. Reversibility is when the affects of training decrease and the benefits are lost.
