Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:53
Subject: Re:Excessive fitness training
I think the problem is really the context not the requirement of fitness.
Most kids are not in shape having missed a spring season and that should not be a surprise to any rational adult or coach.
Normally lack of fitness with players could be more punitive but with a protracted quarantine during the entirety of the spring season a lack of fitness across an entire team should be expected and dealt with more pragmatically.
Getting back into shape always sucks but piling on kids who may have had varying degrees of opportunity to stay in soccer shape is the wrong message at this particular time.
Just encourage the kids and lay out a proper plan to get them back to where they need to be. Using scare tactics are unnecessary at this point when most kids are in the same boat.
Most kids are not in shape having missed a spring season and that should not be a surprise to any rational adult or coach.
Normally lack of fitness with players could be more punitive but with a protracted quarantine during the entirety of the spring season a lack of fitness across an entire team should be expected and dealt with more pragmatically.
Getting back into shape always sucks but piling on kids who may have had varying degrees of opportunity to stay in soccer shape is the wrong message at this particular time.
Just encourage the kids and lay out a proper plan to get them back to where they need to be. Using scare tactics are unnecessary at this point when most kids are in the same boat.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:51
Subject: Re:Excessive fitness training
I strongly agree with the OP. I think the coaches are pushing the youth athletes too hard and too fast.
They have to remember most of these kids/young adults missed an entire season. They need to be patient. They may not look great in their first couple of games (so what).
They have to remember most of these kids/young adults missed an entire season. They need to be patient. They may not look great in their first couple of games (so what).
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:46
Subject: Re:Excessive fitness training
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's easy to say what NOT to do. Can you provide an age appropriate year to year program that includes in season and off season programs that incorporates team training, individual training, injury prevention, additional speed/agility, and strength programs and of course rest and recovery?
for kids, offseason should involve other sports. The benefits of cross training and delaying specialization are clear and well documented
I agree. Can the OP also include supplemental cross training and other sports into the yearly program. That would be appreciated as well.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:42
Subject: Excessive fitness training
Anonymous wrote:Sorry but if your DC can’t keep up with the rest of the team fitness program probably he or she is at the wrong level of competition.
If my son was not in shape I would hope the coach would tell him he wont play or reach his goals if he cannot do what the team needs him to physically.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:36
Subject: Excessive fitness training
"Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury."
Both myself (46) and my wife (48) run 4-5 miles 6 days a week and i feel fresh and healthy, To play soccer you need a high level of fitness.
If non elite travel programs are holding players accountable for not being in shape this is good. If the Elite clubs are not testing and holding players accountable that is concerning. If you do not want to run dont play soccer.
I assume you are saying coaches are saying players wont play on the field or make it to the next level if they are not in shape?
This is simply stating the obvious is it not?
Both myself (46) and my wife (48) run 4-5 miles 6 days a week and i feel fresh and healthy, To play soccer you need a high level of fitness.
If non elite travel programs are holding players accountable for not being in shape this is good. If the Elite clubs are not testing and holding players accountable that is concerning. If you do not want to run dont play soccer.
I assume you are saying coaches are saying players wont play on the field or make it to the next level if they are not in shape?
This is simply stating the obvious is it not?
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:31
Subject: Excessive fitness training
Sorry but if your DC can’t keep up with the rest of the team fitness program probably he or she is at the wrong level of competition.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:12
Subject: Excessive fitness training
Why not call the coach and ask to see the fitness plan, as a kid I would puke every pre season, I wasn’t dying or being abused, it wasn’t the coaches fault, I hadn’t prepared my body For the sport.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:08
Subject: Excessive fitness training
Anonymous wrote:To all club coaches and technical directors:
We've noticed a lot of excessive fitness "training" requirements in youth soccer. Enough is enough. Beep tests, repetitive long distance running, unrealistic timed runs, penalizing players for being "unfit", mind games and ridicule, sending kids for additional "fitness" training in addition to club training, scaring players into compliance for fear of not making it to the next level, and on and on. It must be addressed, since it is either abusive or borderline abusive. I'm no snowflake, nor are my players, but it is time for some honesty.
Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury. This year alone, I've seen stress fractures, muscle cramps, muscle pulls, excess fatigue due to heat/heat exhaustion, vomiting, nausea, and emotional breakdowns, among other things. This is unhealthy. It is not building strong, young athletes, it is tearing them down.
Kids need more than the obvious: frequent and necessary water breaks, adequate rest and recovery, positive encouragement. Kids have additional stressors and uncertainties of COVID, returning to school/online school, interrupted social interactions, sleep deprivation/abnormal sleep patterns, political strife and division, race relations, financial uncertainty of families, lost jobs, parents working from home, uncertainties of college recruiting, uncertainty of game schedules for the season, eating disorders/body image issues, social media pressures, and all kinds of other things.
Coaches, you're not a BUDS instructor for the Navy SEALS, weeding out the unfit and mentally weak for combat operations. Your job is not to get kids to tap out and ring the bell, as though you're the gatekeeper to a D1 soccer career for a 12 year old girl. Your job is to build great soccer players who are not only strong mentally and physically, but who love and appreciate the game for life.
Please take the time to acquaint yourselves with the Positive Coaching Alliance. https://positivecoach.org/
Please, be better coaches. Recognize what it means to be a good coach versus an abusive one. Educate yourselves, parents and coaches, so we can all objectively spot and eliminate bad behaviors at our clubs. And when you see bad behaviors, stand up.
I liked "Coaching ABUSE: The dirty, not-so-little secret in sports":
https://www.competitivedge.com/coaching-abuse-the-dirty-not-so-little-secret-in-sports/
Let's gather good resources to help educate our coaches and clubs. Let's all do better.
Post a sample workout routine so we can judge for ourselves. "Recovery" does not necessarily mean no physical activity, by the way.
I was an elite athlete, in a sport arguably physically and mentally tougher than soccer. I have experienced coaches over the years that use fitness training in cruel ways. Endurance and physical toughness is necessary in soccer. It will separate your top players from the middle of the pack. My kids play club soccer, and I find their idea of "fitness training" to be laughable personally, but, if you think your kid is being abused, I would move them. There are a million places to play soccer in this area. Take your money elsewhere.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:06
Subject: Re:Excessive fitness training
Anonymous wrote:It's easy to say what NOT to do. Can you provide an age appropriate year to year program that includes in season and off season programs that incorporates team training, individual training, injury prevention, additional speed/agility, and strength programs and of course rest and recovery?
for kids, offseason should involve other sports. The benefits of cross training and delaying specialization are clear and well documented
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:03
Subject: Excessive fitness training
Anonymous wrote:To all club coaches and technical directors:
We've noticed a lot of excessive fitness "training" requirements in youth soccer. Enough is enough. Beep tests, repetitive long distance running, unrealistic timed runs, penalizing players for being "unfit", mind games and ridicule, sending kids for additional "fitness" training in addition to club training, scaring players into compliance for fear of not making it to the next level, and on and on. It must be addressed, since it is either abusive or borderline abusive. I'm no snowflake, nor are my players, but it is time for some honesty.
Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury. This year alone, I've seen stress fractures, muscle cramps, muscle pulls, excess fatigue due to heat/heat exhaustion, vomiting, nausea, and emotional breakdowns, among other things. This is unhealthy. It is not building strong, young athletes, it is tearing them down.
Kids need more than the obvious: frequent and necessary water breaks, adequate rest and recovery, positive encouragement. Kids have additional stressors and uncertainties of COVID, returning to school/online school, interrupted social interactions, sleep deprivation/abnormal sleep patterns, political strife and division, race relations, financial uncertainty of families, lost jobs, parents working from home, uncertainties of college recruiting, uncertainty of game schedules for the season, eating disorders/body image issues, social media pressures, and all kinds of other things.
Coaches, you're not a BUDS instructor for the Navy SEALS, weeding out the unfit and mentally weak for combat operations. Your job is not to get kids to tap out and ring the bell, as though you're the gatekeeper to a D1 soccer career for a 12 year old girl. Your job is to build great soccer players who are not only strong mentally and physically, but who love and appreciate the game for life.
Please take the time to acquaint yourselves with the Positive Coaching Alliance. https://positivecoach.org/
Please, be better coaches. Recognize what it means to be a good coach versus an abusive one. Educate yourselves, parents and coaches, so we can all objectively spot and eliminate bad behaviors at our clubs. And when you see bad behaviors, stand up.
I liked "Coaching ABUSE: The dirty, not-so-little secret in sports":
https://www.competitivedge.com/coaching-abuse-the-dirty-not-so-little-secret-in-sports/
Let's gather good resources to help educate our coaches and clubs. Let's all do better.
Sue the coach because your kids fitness level doesn’t meet the demands of the game.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:02
Subject: Excessive fitness training
any particular coach youre referring to when posting that? cmon, youre anonymous. have some balls.
Anonymous
08/25/2020 13:00
Subject: Re:Excessive fitness training
It's easy to say what NOT to do. Can you provide an age appropriate year to year program that includes in season and off season programs that incorporates team training, individual training, injury prevention, additional speed/agility, and strength programs and of course rest and recovery?
Anonymous
08/25/2020 12:45
Subject: Excessive fitness training
Anonymous wrote:To all club coaches and technical directors:
We've noticed a lot of excessive fitness "training" requirements in youth soccer. Enough is enough. Beep tests, repetitive long distance running, unrealistic timed runs, penalizing players for being "unfit", mind games and ridicule, sending kids for additional "fitness" training in addition to club training, scaring players into compliance for fear of not making it to the next level, and on and on. It must be addressed, since it is either abusive or borderline abusive. I'm no snowflake, nor are my players, but it is time for some honesty.
Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury. This year alone, I've seen stress fractures, muscle cramps, muscle pulls, excess fatigue due to heat/heat exhaustion, vomiting, nausea, and emotional breakdowns, among other things. This is unhealthy. It is not building strong, young athletes, it is tearing them down.
Kids need more than the obvious: frequent and necessary water breaks, adequate rest and recovery, positive encouragement. Kids have additional stressors and uncertainties of COVID, returning to school/online school, interrupted social interactions, sleep deprivation/abnormal sleep patterns, political strife and division, race relations, financial uncertainty of families, lost jobs, parents working from home, uncertainties of college recruiting, uncertainty of game schedules for the season, eating disorders/body image issues, social media pressures, and all kinds of other things.
Coaches, you're not a BUDS instructor for the Navy SEALS, weeding out the unfit and mentally weak for combat operations. Your job is not to get kids to tap out and ring the bell, as though you're the gatekeeper to a D1 soccer career for a 12 year old girl. Your job is to build great soccer players who are not only strong mentally and physically, but who love and appreciate the game for life.
Please take the time to acquaint yourselves with the Positive Coaching Alliance. https://positivecoach.org/
Please, be better coaches. Recognize what it means to be a good coach versus an abusive one. Educate yourselves, parents and coaches, so we can all objectively spot and eliminate bad behaviors at our clubs. And when you see bad behaviors, stand up.
I liked "Coaching ABUSE: The dirty, not-so-little secret in sports":
https://www.competitivedge.com/coaching-abuse-the-dirty-not-so-little-secret-in-sports/
Let's gather good resources to help educate our coaches and clubs. Let's all do better.
+1,000,000,000,000
I wish I knew who you were so I could buy you a beer!
Anonymous
08/25/2020 12:32
Subject: Re:Excessive fitness training
Nicely said
Anonymous
08/25/2020 11:54
Subject: Excessive fitness training
To all club coaches and technical directors:
We've noticed a lot of excessive fitness "training" requirements in youth soccer. Enough is enough. Beep tests, repetitive long distance running, unrealistic timed runs, penalizing players for being "unfit", mind games and ridicule, sending kids for additional "fitness" training in addition to club training, scaring players into compliance for fear of not making it to the next level, and on and on. It must be addressed, since it is either abusive or borderline abusive. I'm no snowflake, nor are my players, but it is time for some honesty.
Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury. This year alone, I've seen stress fractures, muscle cramps, muscle pulls, excess fatigue due to heat/heat exhaustion, vomiting, nausea, and emotional breakdowns, among other things. This is unhealthy. It is not building strong, young athletes, it is tearing them down.
Kids need more than the obvious: frequent and necessary water breaks, adequate rest and recovery, positive encouragement. Kids have additional stressors and uncertainties of COVID, returning to school/online school, interrupted social interactions, sleep deprivation/abnormal sleep patterns, political strife and division, race relations, financial uncertainty of families, lost jobs, parents working from home, uncertainties of college recruiting, uncertainty of game schedules for the season, eating disorders/body image issues, social media pressures, and all kinds of other things.
Coaches, you're not a BUDS instructor for the Navy SEALS, weeding out the unfit and mentally weak for combat operations. Your job is not to get kids to tap out and ring the bell, as though you're the gatekeeper to a D1 soccer career for a 12 year old girl. Your job is to build great soccer players who are not only strong mentally and physically, but who love and appreciate the game for life.
Please take the time to acquaint yourselves with the Positive Coaching Alliance. https://positivecoach.org/
Please, be better coaches. Recognize what it means to be a good coach versus an abusive one. Educate yourselves, parents and coaches, so we can all objectively spot and eliminate bad behaviors at our clubs. And when you see bad behaviors, stand up.
I liked "Coaching ABUSE: The dirty, not-so-little secret in sports":
https://www.competitivedge.com/coaching-abuse-the-dirty-not-so-little-secret-in-sports/
Let's gather good resources to help educate our coaches and clubs. Let's all do better.
We've noticed a lot of excessive fitness "training" requirements in youth soccer. Enough is enough. Beep tests, repetitive long distance running, unrealistic timed runs, penalizing players for being "unfit", mind games and ridicule, sending kids for additional "fitness" training in addition to club training, scaring players into compliance for fear of not making it to the next level, and on and on. It must be addressed, since it is either abusive or borderline abusive. I'm no snowflake, nor are my players, but it is time for some honesty.
Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury. This year alone, I've seen stress fractures, muscle cramps, muscle pulls, excess fatigue due to heat/heat exhaustion, vomiting, nausea, and emotional breakdowns, among other things. This is unhealthy. It is not building strong, young athletes, it is tearing them down.
Kids need more than the obvious: frequent and necessary water breaks, adequate rest and recovery, positive encouragement. Kids have additional stressors and uncertainties of COVID, returning to school/online school, interrupted social interactions, sleep deprivation/abnormal sleep patterns, political strife and division, race relations, financial uncertainty of families, lost jobs, parents working from home, uncertainties of college recruiting, uncertainty of game schedules for the season, eating disorders/body image issues, social media pressures, and all kinds of other things.
Coaches, you're not a BUDS instructor for the Navy SEALS, weeding out the unfit and mentally weak for combat operations. Your job is not to get kids to tap out and ring the bell, as though you're the gatekeeper to a D1 soccer career for a 12 year old girl. Your job is to build great soccer players who are not only strong mentally and physically, but who love and appreciate the game for life.
Please take the time to acquaint yourselves with the Positive Coaching Alliance. https://positivecoach.org/
Please, be better coaches. Recognize what it means to be a good coach versus an abusive one. Educate yourselves, parents and coaches, so we can all objectively spot and eliminate bad behaviors at our clubs. And when you see bad behaviors, stand up.
I liked "Coaching ABUSE: The dirty, not-so-little secret in sports":
https://www.competitivedge.com/coaching-abuse-the-dirty-not-so-little-secret-in-sports/
Let's gather good resources to help educate our coaches and clubs. Let's all do better.