Soccer
Conditioning
Drills

These are drills that Mike Pline and I use with our 2004 Decatur United soccer teams - Ken Gamble

Conditioning Drill Number 1
 

Players line up side by side along the touch line.

Space 3 cones about 10 yards apart and then a fourth cone 20 yards from the third cone. I usually set up about three lines of these cones just so the kids have an idea where to stop.

In unison they sprint to the first cone and do 10 standard military style push-ups, pop back up and sprint back to the starting line and then sprint to the second cone and do 10 sit-ups, pop up and sprint back to the starting line and then sprint to the third cone and do 10 jumps pulling the knees up as close to the chest as possible (land softly each jump and push hard off ground).  They then sprint back to the starting line and then sprint to the fourth cone and back. There is no rest during this entire repetition.

Once they have completed that repetition they may take a one minute rest and then start a second rep. (Do five reps like this.)

Each practice increase the amount of pushups, sit-ups, and jumps until you get to 30 each.

Make sure the players have warmed up and stretched before this. I usually let the kids mess around with the ball a little until most everyone is ready with cleats on. This includes short passing and juggling but no long passes or shots on goal. 

I then make them do a easy half mile jog, stretch, and then another half mile jog. I usually have the kids do some "build-ups" after stretching. They will run about 50 yards or the width of the field slowly building up to about 50% of their fastest speed.

They have about a 5 second rest to make sure everyone is back on the line and then do it back the other direction.

Then do the same building up to about 75% of their speed.

Then about 90%.

This gets the legs used to going at top speed and you have less chance of an early hamstring pull. Then go to the cone drill above.

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Conditioning Drill Number 2
Relay races with balls - Working on cutting the ball.
Inside, Outside, Behind the Back and Speed Dribble

Use the same arrangement of cones as the drill above.  Now take your total practice squad and have them divide into equal teams of 3 or 4 players each. 

Player #1 from each team starts the race on the touch line and dribbles quickly to the first cone (to the cone, not around it) and cuts the ball with the inside of his foot, dribbles back to the touch line and cuts the ball with the inside of his foot, dribbles to the second cone and cuts the ball with the outside of his foot, dribbles back to the touch line and cuts the ball with the outside of his foot, dribbles to the third cone and cuts the ball with the inside of his foot but behind his other leg.  He then dribbles back to the touch line and again cuts the ball behind his other leg.  He then "sprint dribbles" around the last cone and passes the ball to the next player (Player #2) in his group who is waiting at the touch-line.  He does the same routine (inside, outside, behind the back and speed dribble) and then passes to the next player (Player #3) in the group.  The group that completes their relay and sits down wins the race.  They MUST all be sitting down in the touch-line area in order to be considered as finished.

Losing team or teams are to do some sort of punishment.  I like giving a soccer ball to the winning group and allowing one of that group to punt the ball as hard as they can.  The losing team(s) must sprint to the ball and AROUND it without touching it.  The last player can dribble the ball back.


NOTE:
On the first second and third cones he is to keep the ball close to his feet when dribbling.  On the last he is to sprint all-out 100% and the ball will be out front in typical full speed sprint.   

VARIATIONS:
Have all the players do the drill right footed only.  The next time through have them do the drill left footed only.

VARIATION:
On the behind the back cut they should fake a shot as they cut the ball.  They can throw their hands out wide to make it appear they are shooting.

VARIATION:
We also do this drill as a cutting drill WITHOUT the soccer ball which makes it an ideal off-season drill for high schools in Alabama where you can not touch a soccer ball at school except during specific months of the school season. 

Conditioning Drill Number 3
 

Setup:
Divide players into groups of three. 
Set two cones about 30 yards apart.
For every three girls have two cones 30 yards apart.

Have two girls on one cone (Players 1 & 2) and one girl on the other cone (Player 3). One of the girls from the group of two (i.e. Player 1) sprints to the other cone slapping hands (tagging) with the girl (Player 3) at that cone. The girl at that cone (Player 3) sprints back to the other cone tags the remaining girl (Player 2) who then sprints to the other cone and continues the drill.  This goes on until you are ready to stop.

Each girl is getting about seven to ten seconds to rest.

I like to run this drill for about 20 minutes. You have to evaluate the condition of the players. Five to ten minutes may be all they can handle initially. Make sure they concentrate on quick starts even if they are slowing down as they run.

Conditioning Drill Number 4
 

Line the girls up in rows of three across and have them jog across the field. At sometime near the middle of the field the leading three girls will say "GO" and then break into a sprint to the touchline and then continue jogging back the other way until they get to midfield and then do this again. It is important to have the best conditioned and fastest girls (role models) in the front. 

In this drill the entire team runs as a group with the front girls pulling everyone along.

Conditioning Drill Number 5
 

Have the girls line up in two's behind each other (two rows side by side) and start jogging slowly across the field (50-70 yards wide). The first two girls (Players A above) take off sprinting to the touchline and then back to the opposite touchline (passing their teammates) until they come up behind the group of girls who have continued jogging.

When they catch up they fall in at the back and the first two girls (Players B) take off sprinting and so on and so on. Make sure no one walks. Do this for 20 minutes.

This is a good drill to use early in the practice as it allows them to socialize as they jog.

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Brazilian Warm-up:

After stretching and jogging, we do some half field running where we are lifting our knees high as we jog across the field, then we slap our heels on the way back, and then we go sideways bring our feet together half way then turned to the other side. Then we do a simulated one legged jump lifting our arms to get elevation, and then the other leg (sort of looks like skipping).  Include Cariocas (right and Left), High knees, Jump Squats, Butt Kicks, lateral shuffles, skipping, lunges, side skips, etc.  This is typically called the Brazilian Warm-up.  It is a dynamic warm up.

The Brazilian Warm-up varies but it is based upon Rhythm, Discipline, and Team Unity.  The best thing about the warm-up is that as it becomes "rote" the players will do it on their own without requiring any input from coaches.  It's a dynamic warm-up method of "bonding" the players together.  It makes the warm-up an energetic and lively experience that is both extremely effective and enjoyable to be a part of. As well as providing a great warm up, it is also ideal for developing your rhythm and co-ordination. If done as a team warm-up, it builds team unity and cohesion. This warm-up can be done to music but in most cases the players clap in unison instead of using music.

Conditioning Drill Number 6 - "Steal the Bibs"

You can even take some practice bibs and have them tuck them in like flag football and using cones line off about a quarter of a field. Have two players start without flags who will try to steal the flags.  Once a player loses their flag they join in help steal the other's flags (bibs) until they get everyone's bibs.

It's fun and a change of pace from just running and jumping and can involve a lot of change of direction, and energy - if they are enthused about playing.

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Off-Season Conditioning Work-outs

• ODP Conditioning Program - Alabama ODP Off-Season Conditioning Program - includes STARTS, PLYOMETRICS, SPEED, AGILITY as well as conditioning drills with time requirements.
• Soccer Assessment of Physical Fitness
• University of North Carolina Summer Conditioning Program - Acrobat pdf
• Lots of Soccer Fitness and Conditioning Articles

Conditioning Work-outs
 

        Below is the Kansas City Rugby Morning Work-outs Conditioning Program which I borrowed from their website  It's a three-times-a-week workout and matches up well with Soccer Requirements.

  Web Administrator    Ken Gamble