Your Football Stats – World Cup and All

As a Personal Trainer and football Coach, there are a number of important points that you should be aware of when training your kids to be fit for football. Your first consideration should be the age and current fitness levels of your players. It is very important to realise with your training that kids are not just little adults, and as such adult fitness and conditioning drills are largely inappropriate. Second consideration should be the types of football drills that you are going to use. For children, I always like to make sure that a ball is involved in all of my football fitness and conditioning drills. For this reason I use a lot of small sided games for training my kids, as small sided games keep them involved and moving at all times, incorporating both fitness and ballwork together.

Once you enroll in football training, you must first learn the basic characteristics of good defending, even if you want to be a striker or midfielder. The main aim is to make sure that the rival team will not gain control of the ball.

However, a defense strategy does not only involve keeping possession of the ball from the other team, but also getting full control over the ball itself and using it properly. To fully understand the defense strategy of your team, check out the following qualities that every successful defender needs to have.

The first attribute of a successful defender is that he maintains a strong focus on the ball throughout the whole of the game. By always knowing where the ball is, and determining the appropriate technique and time to take control of the ball, a good defender will make the defense much stronger and harder to break down.

Take note that it is important to be always one step ahead of the opposing team, so you must identify the tactical strategies that they are using as soon as you can. Most teams tend to play to their strengths and play in a similar formation every game, usually only making their formation more defensive when they play away.

Playing football requires some of the most demanding fitness of any team sport. Nearly every muscle is used as transitions in speed, leaping, quick changes of direction and physical contact are constantly required to participate in this sport. You will find that endurance and mental fitness may sum up the bulk of what it takes to stay in the game.

To stay fit for football you must spend a great deal of time conditioning the body. Keep in mind that stretching before any exercise is mandatory to prevent injury to any muscle group and is the first step in getting fit. You will want to work groin, hamstring, hip/waist, calf and quad muscles. Once you are warmed up, start with an emphasis on running. It is an essential path in building up good lungs but, rather than just running miles it is more beneficial to run sprints. You can build up your speed, explosiveness and endurance all at once with jogs and sprints mixed up in 20 meter zones. You will be adding cuts or changes in direction to your runs.

Next, you will need to incorporate leg lifts and sit-ups to strengthen your torso. This will support heading, twisting and shooting. Add push-ups to your sets to maintain upper body strength.

It’s known as ‘The Beautiful Game’, and is the most popular game around the world. Enjoyed everywhere from playing fields to streets to high schools, football is a game everyone can enjoy. However, as fun as it is, to play it properly you need to be fit as well as skillful, and this is where a dedicated football fitness training regimen or program comes into effect.

Yet even this needs to be done properly, in order to get the maximum benefit from your football training. After all, it’s no good being the fittest player on the park if you have to come off with a pulled muscle because you did not warm up properly beforehand. Therefore, making sure you have a set routine for your football fitness training is crucial to get the best results every time.

- Warm up. Just like any exercise, you need to make sure your body is completely warmed up before you start your football fitness training. This not only loosens up your limbs for the training ahead, but will stop you from injuring yourself. Warm ups can include light jogging, stretching, gentle bouncing on the spot, and even a quick mini-game of kicking the ball back and forth.