In previous articles we have touched on the fact that muscle fatigue leads to a wide assortment of injuries.  Thus, it would be logical that there must be strategies to limit how muscles get fatigued.  In soccer, it is very common to see many players get injured in the last five to eight minutes of a half or a game.  Generally, it is imperative that the coach be aware of the attention span and the ability of the players to focus during the session. 

It is well known that girls generally mature at an earlier age than boys so that must be taken into account as well as the following recommendations. 

Also, within the team, some players may have matured at a totally different rate.  For example, in a boys team of eight year olds, all the players will be eight years old chronologically (by the calendar)  BUT maturational age may vary by up to eighteen months. Thus, on the same eight year old team, a couple of the boys have a maturational age of six and a half, and a couple of the early maturers may have a maturational age of nine and a half.  In effect, there could be a three year age gap within the team.  Coaches must be aware of this difference and not treat the younger player harshly.  If the player is treated in an embarrassing fashion it will turn that player off soccer and possibly sport altogether.

In planning the soccer season the coach must realize that sports fall into one of two categories:  Early Specialization or Late Specialization (Balyi and Hamilton, 1999).  Early specialization refers to sports like gymnastics, figure skating, and rhythmic gymnastics.  These athletes are trained in their sports very early in the life.  Late specialization refers to most team sports, racquet sports, athletics, and cycling to name a few.  In the late specialization sports, of which soccer falls into, the early training requires a general approach.  As noted in earlier articles, the early stages of training need to be global in approach and involve a fun component.

The five stage approach of Late Specialization (Balyi, 2001) includes:

            Stage 1 - The FUNdamental Stage

                           6-10 years of age, both male and females

            Stage 2 - The Training to Train Stage

                           10-14 years of age Males; 10-13 years of age Female

            Stage 3 - The Training to Compete Stage

                           14-18 years of age Males; 13-17 years of age Females

            Stage 4 - The Training to Win Stage

                           18 years and older Males; 17 years and older Females

            Stage 5 - The Retirement/ Retraining Stage

                           Post competitive stage

Many clubs and soccer academies involve Byte Size Coaching (Waiters) with the players as young as three.  In many cases parents are involved directly with these potential superstars and are on the field helping to direct them.  The focus needs to be fun and the time needs to be very short, with the total time not being longer than half an hour.  The attention span just isn't there.  Three a-side is perfect at this point.

Although Harsanyi's findings were published in 1985, they are very relevant even today.  He found that specialization before the age of ten is NOT recommended since it contributes to early burn out, drop out and retirement from training and competition.  A number of the top researchers (Balyi and Hamilton, 1995; Rushall, 1998; Viru et al, 1998) found that the key to motor development is between the ages of nine and twelve.  During this stage the players are developmentally prepared to acquire the fundamental skills of running, bounding, jumping, hopping, and throwing.  These skills need to be introduced at this time so that the athlete is prepared to go onto the more complicated skills of heading, volleying, crossing and slide tackling later on.

Participating in a wide variety of skills and sports is highly recommended.  These can be introduced by the coach at the various stages as well.

Stage 1 - The FUNdamental Stage - 6-10 year olds

These youngsters should not be on the park for more than one hour at a time.  The number of practices per week is one to two, with one small, short game per week.  The emphasis at this stage is to introduce fun drills and to keep moving into progressions or different drills so that the players can maintain their focus.

Participating in other sports (not necessarily organized sports) three to four times a week is also key to their development.  The athlete should enjoy the sessions and leave in a positive state of mind, eager to come back.

Stage 2 - The Learning to Train Stage - 10-14 year olds Male; 10-13 year olds, Females

At this stage the player is introduced to the early skill set of the sport, in this case soccer.  All the skills should be introduced and the players will pick up the various skills depending on their maturational level.  For instance, proper heading will become a skill that they will enhance over the next few years of their development.  The early maturer may pick up the skill immediately whereas the late developer may pick up the skill a few years later.

The player should also be introduced to the general knowledge base regarding hydration, nutrition, recovery and regeneration, the need for warm-up and cool down, types of stretching, and mental training.

This age group can have two practices per week, with one game per week.  They can be on the field for one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes.  A general rule of thumb at this stage is a 75%-25% rule for training to competition ratio.  The biggest mistake coaches and academies make with this age group is to have too many games.  It does not allow the athlete time to develop the ability to cope with the added mental and physical strain that competition brings.  The focus should be on performance rather than winning at all costs.

Stage 3 - The Training to Train and Training to Compete Stages

                14-18 years of age Males;  13-17 years of age Females

The Training to competition ratio is 50-50 %.  This requires the coach to focus at least fifty percent of his session on technical, fitness and tactical fitness.  The remainder of the session should be competition specific training (* If not competitive games against other teams).

These players are possibly up to three practices per week, with one to two games per week.  Their sessions can range from one and one half hours to two hours.These athletes would benefit from a year long program, including strengthening, general cardiovascular training, further technical training, and more psychological training.  These aspects can be incorporated into the sessions, or augment the sessions.

Stage 4 - The Training to Win Stage

               18 years of age and older Males; 17 years of age and older Females

At this point all the athlete's skills should be established and the focus should be shifted to obtain peak performances.   Training to competition ratios can be 25-75%, making sure the athlete has sufficient recovery and regeneration between competitions.

These players can have up to three sessions per week, with up to two games per week.  Their sessions can be up to two hours per session.

Stage 5 - Retirement Stage

                Post competition

When players retire from competition many times they will need to retrain to go into another sport or activity.  Many athletes return to their primary sport as an official such as a coach, manager, referee, administrator, or volunteer.

In terms of injury prevention another point of contention arises in tournament play.  Playing twice a day should be avoided at all costs.  There is no time for Recovery and Regeneration (which will be discussed in the next article).  Suffice to say that a proper cool down is crucial.  Static stretching and gentle body movements will allow for the dispersal of the lactic acid that has built up during the game.  Remember that a proper cool down should last fifteen to twenty minutes.

Fitness - where does it fit in?

Although a future article will discuss this in detail, keep in mind the principle that muscle fatigue leads to injury.  Thus, never put fitness at the end of the session.  Attempt to put the fitness component either in a separate session on its own or have the fitness sprinkled throughout the session so that the player can change his/her focus and the muscles can respond appropriately.  Assuming the fitness component is at a high level, this will allow the player to understand how it feels to play and perform when he is tired, when he continues with the rest of the practice after the fitness component.

Final Comment from Marc

The underlying concept I wanted to get across was that for soccer, as for many of the Late Developmental sports, it is crucial to give the athlete a wide base or foundation of movement activity.  I am not saying don't introduce basic skills like dribbling and passing at an early age.  I am saying that those skills are age specific and every player is going to achieve success in those skills at a different age, due to the differences in maturational levels (even within one team).  The wide base or foundation of basic movement (such as jumping, running, hopping, and bounding) will allow the athlete to be much more balanced and coordinated.  Generally becoming a better overall athlete.  This in the end will result in less injuries and a much better appreciation for the sport.

References

Balyi, I. Sport system building and long-term athlete development in Canada.  The situation and solutions, in Coaches Report.  The Official Publication of the Canadian Professional Coaches Association, Summer, 2001. Vol. 8, No. 1, pp 25-28.

Balyi, I. and Hamilton, A. "Long term Planning of Athlete Development, The Training to Win Phase" I FHS, the UK's Quarterly Coaching Magazine, Issue Three, pp 7-9, April, 1999.

Bar-Or, O. (ed). The Child and the Adolescent Athlete. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford, UK, 1996.

Harsanyi, L. "A 10-18 eves atletak felkeszitesenek modelije."  Budapest: Utanpotlas-neveles, No. 10, 1983.

Haywood, K.M.  Life Span Motor Development.  Champaign, Il. Human Kinetics, 1993.

Rushall, B.  The Growth of Physical Characteristics in Male and Female Children. In Sports Coach, Vol. 20, Summer, 1998, pp 25-27.

The Nemours Foundation.  Kids Health. Fitness and Your 4-5 Year Old.

The Nemours Foundation.  Kids Health. Fitness and Your 6-12 Year Old.

The Nemours Foundation.  Kids Health. Fitness and your 13-18 Year Old.

Viru, A., Loko, J., Laaneots, L, Karlesom, K. and Viru, M.  Age periods of accelerated improvements of muscle strength, power, speed and endurance in age interval 6-18 years.  In Biology of Sport, Warsaw, V., 15 (4) 1998, pp211-227.

Viru, A.  Adaptation in Sports Training, CRC, Boca Raton, 1995, p. 310.

Waiters, T.  World of Soccer. Byte Size Coaching website.