5 Tips for Injury Prevention!
Hey Coach do you have any tips to stay injury free?
Great Question! Below are some of my favorite “out of the box” tips to keep you jamming’ on the field!
“Soccer is a physical sport”….you hear it all the time. Have you ever been watching your child play on a Saturday? Maybe it was your nephews game or you were just passing by a field and happen to catch a few minutes because things were interestingly getting “out of hand”. Tackles are being made and bodies are flying, shoulders are being thown and the crowd loves it or hates it depending on who is giving or receiving. And then it happens….someone hits the ground, cant get up, and the card flies from the referees pocket. But “soccer is a physical sport”….right?
Right….soccer is a physical sport. It is very physical, in fact in my humble opinion it is one of the most physical right up there with rugby. The physicality is different than say American Football because the idea is not to kill the player that has the ball or smash through a bunch of guys with pads and helmets to cross a line. It is “physical” because it requires so much of the athelete that plays it. Players are litereally constantly running, jumping, kicking, cutting, dribbling,tackeling, sprinting, jogging and then out of nowhere they can be slide tackled or runover! To top it off the game is full of mistakes, bad touches, poor decisions and shots that go just wide or over the crossbar, and players have to learn to keep playing under these stresses. This endless barage of activitiy only gets infrequnent small breaks when there is an injury, freekick, substitution or half time…..so yes the game is physical, very physical, mental and emotional as well.
The tips, tricks and techniques that help atheletes become their best an prevent injury could fill up page after page of this website and there is thousands of books written on the subject. I have put together these 5 tips to prevent injury to get you started down the path of helping yourself, your child, or a player you care about!
#1 WATER,WATER,WATER….I put this one first because I believe it to be the foundation of any kind of performance. The body and mind of the soccer player must be fueled and hydrated to be their best. Now I could go into a ton of scientific words and processes but that would probably confuse me more than you, so here’s the basics. The body and brain needs water (not Gatorade) down to the cellular level. All the little building blocks that make up and create your blood, muscles, tendons, ligaments, brain cells and bones MUST HAVE WATER TO FUNCTION! So look at it like this….Injury can happen at any split second of the game because there is so much stress on the body coming from all angles. Even just a missed placed step could snap a tendon. Now imagine what leather looks and feels like when it hasn’t been conditioned with oil, its dry, cracked and not flexible. This is what your tissues are like without water! So drink up!!
#2 WEAR PROPER FITTING GEAR (SHOES ESPECIALLY)….This one comes next in my book because I have coached so many players that show up to games and trainings with shoes too big, socks too small, and shingaurds that wont stay in place. Shingaurds should fit they player in a way that they stay in place and don’t move around. The size, shape and area protected by the guard is strictly up to the player but take a little time before a game and tape them in place, wear a sleeve or use Velcro straps. This will help distraction and help the player with comfort more or less. All I’m going to say about socks is….DONT WEAR ANKLE SOCKS TO TRAINING OR PRACTICE! You may not be required to wear full length socks and shingaurds for practice but your ankles should be protected enough by the sock to help you prevent scrapes, bruises and cleat marks. Game socks should fit tight enough and come up high enough that they will stay up on the leg during the match. SHOES NEED TO FEEL GOOD BECAUSE FEET NEED TO FEEL GOOD! There is nothing that feels better to a soccer player than a proper fitting glove like pair of kicks! Everything about the game revolves around the feet so please put effort and a little money in making sure your players shoes fit properly and feel amazing. When your shoes are too small and hurt or too loose and slide around confidence in your skill is effected greatly. Unconsciously a player will safety up, slow down, or not be as agile if their feet don’t feel good. This little detail can lead to rolled ankles, twisted knees, or anything in between. FEET NEED TO FEEL GOOD!
#3 INCREASE GAME INTELLIGENCE….This suggestion may seem odd to be in a injury prevention list but it is SO IMPORTANT! The game of soccer must first be played in the mind and then with the body. What this means is that a players needs to be thinking all the time about where the ball might go, where they need to be , where the play is, and anticipating problems and solutions. So many times players slip into reaction mode during the game. The ball comes and then they react, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and then sometimes they get run over! Thinking about the game, reading the rhythm of play, and working on solutions keeps the body and mind more alert to possible danger. You cant foresee every tackle or collision but if you can get yourself in the zone mentally then you will avoid more injuries because you will develop like a sixth sense or “feel “for what may happen. So keep your head moving, your eyes gathering information, and your mind working out plays!
#4 INCREASE FLEXIBILITY WITH STRETCHING AND YOGA…..The different ways and routines you can use to become more flexible and supple are too numerous to dive into so again I will keep it simple. Find a little set of stretches that feel good to you, there are hundreds. Create yourself a short little routine and go through the set of stretches hitting all major parts of your body and move through them seamlessly.The most important things to remember during your routine is to BREATHE, GO DEEPER WITH THE STRETCH THAN LAST TIME, AND BREATHE!! Deep rythmic breathing with your mouth or nose will fill your blood and body with oxygen and rejuvinate everything. Yoga routines are fantastic for athletes, give one a try! When should you stretch? Well in my opinion save the long sets of stactic or hold stretching for after a game, training, off days or whenever you are feeling tight. There is a ton of conflicting and confusing infomation out there about the positives and negatives of strectching, but I say if you feel tight then move around to warm up a little and then do your routine to work it out. One last thought is that pre-game stretching should be movement based. Jogging, short sprints, lunges, leg swings, and a whole host of dynamic movements should be done in place of your static routine. This is done to get blood flowing and feeding all the little muscles and fibers of the body preparing it for the massive amount of work ahead.
#5 IMPROVE REACTION TIME WITH PLOMETRICS TRAINING….Again we could really go long here with tons of workout suggestions. Plyometrics is basically jump training. A typical workout consists of several rounds of frog jumps, split squat jumps, one legged side springs and the list goes on and on. You can very easily go to YouTube and try thousands of routines. Jump training helps you build reaction time and strength in your fast twitch muscle fibers. These fibers are the “springs” that let you preform everything from diving headers to stepover ball moves. The faster and more springy they are the more dynamic you can move, jump, cut, faint, and accelerate. This speed on and off the ball can not only drastically improve your game on the ball but it can keep you out of injury situations because your body can spring out of trouble. When you get knocked down you spring back up. When an opponent shoulders you, you can bounce back. When you are in a tight crowd you can duck and dive your way out of the fight. Many injuries come from a player being too ridged. Soccer is free-flowing with tons of movement so the more you can improve your ability to dance around the field the healthier you will stay.
I hope these words can help you or a player you care about. Again we can go deep on all of these suggestions and compile many more than just five but these are a few of my faves. Always look for ways to improve your game and you are on track to becoming great, it is a journey, there is no finish line!
See you out on the field!
♥Coach Sam
Be Creative..Be Fearless..Have Fun!
