This document discusses training methods to reduce injuries and improve player performance in soccer. It outlines common soccer injuries like thigh strains, knee ACL injuries, and ankle sprains. It recommends including a dynamic warm-up, strength training, balance exercises, footwork drills, and static stretching in training. It promotes the FIFA 11+ injury prevention program and integrating those exercises into soccer drills with and without the ball. Examples provided focus on developing quick footwork, improving defending technique, and incorporating single leg exercises to prevent hamstring injuries while training soccer skills.

1. Training to Reduce Injuries and Improve Player
Performance
Jim Launder - Calvin Deutsch

2. Starting Point
The Game of Soccer
• 90 min long (or less at various youth levels)
• Repeated mixture of sprinting, running, jogging, walking
• Many short duration “actions”
• Sprinting, receiving ball, passing, shooting, tackles,
direction changes
• Constantly evolving and on the move, no time-outs/set plays
(except free kicks)

3. Injury Info

4. Injuries
• Thigh- Strains (pulls)
• Knee- ACL (female)
• Ankle- Sprains (male)

5. Basic Principles
• Dynamic Warm-Up (Physiologic, Technical, Tactical,
Psychologic)
• Strength, balance, movement education, footwork exercises
***Put in soccer language***
• Cool down, static stretching
• How much of this can we include the ball and how can make
injury prevention and performance improvement soccer
centric?

6. FIFA

7. FIFA 11+
http://f-marc.com/11plus/exercises/
9 Running
Exercises
Each
practice/
match
6 Strength
Exercises
2-3x/wk

8. FIFA 11+

9. 11+ with ball

10. FIFA 11+

11. 11+ with ball

12. 11+ with ball

13. Movement Quality

14. Movement Quality

15. Field Session
• 11+ without and with ball
• ACL Injury Prevention- integrated into soccer
• Ankle Sprain Prevention- integrated into soccer
• Hamstring Injury Prevention- semi-integrated
• Athletic Skill Development- fully integrated

16. Field Review
• ACL- improving knee position, athletic stance, 3-5 step stop / good
footwork
• Ankle Sprain- balance exercises, good footwork
• Hamstring Strain- Eccentric exercises (Nordic Curl and deadlifts)
• Athletic Skills- emphasis on footwork, practice reacting/reading other
players or the ball. “It’s OK to think once in a while” -Bob Gansler’s Grandfather
**** How can we simultaneously develop injury prevention and
athletic skills while playing and learning soccer? ****

17. Knee Position

18. Examples

19. Examples

20. Examples

21. Examples

22. Examples

23. Examples

24. Movement Summary
• Quick footwork- shorter steps allow for faster change of
direction, transfer of force, and improve the biomechanics of
your body=Injury Prevention and Athletic Skill Development
• Defending- utilize quick short steps and angle body. Players
need to learn how to time this correctly by practicing on real
players with the ball.
• Integrate single leg opportunities into technical exercise
• Nordic Hamstring and/or single leg deadlift

25. Dribbling Agility

26. Dribbling Agility

27. Dribbling Agility

28. Prep Footwork

29. Prep Footwork

30. Reactive Agility

31. Isolated Agility
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5isQVrSti1w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6GfSfRCaxI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbQZ4FGv9ug