Specificity and Football (Soccer) Training

[Guest guest]

Now the football world cup is underway we are lucky to get a rare

glimpse of the teams training sessions. Yesterday I saw the England

team doing upside down cycling (supporting themselves with the elbows

and head whilst waving the legs in the air). As specificity has

appeared on the list again, can anyone tell me what is the thinking

behind this exercise and what are the benefits.

[When I played soccer as wee lad, we had to do that sort of warmup -

doesn't the durability of such training beliefs over at least 50 years

mean anything to you? Mel Siff]

Roy Palmer

Bedford

UK

[Guest guest]

> Now the football world cup is underway we are lucky to get a rare

> glimpse of the teams training sessions. Yesterday I saw the England

> team doing upside down cycling (supporting themselves with the

elbows

> and head whilst waving the legs in the air). As specificity has

> appeared on the list again, can anyone tell me what is the thinking

> behind this exercise and what are the benefits.

>

> [When I played soccer as wee lad, we had to do that sort of warmup -

> doesn't the durability of such training beliefs over at least 50

years mean anything to you? Mel Siff]

*****I watched the England team do a number of plyometric drills

including depth jumps (depth jump to second box etc)? Surely time

spent completing other training would be far more beneficial -

especially due to the physical demands of high intensity plyometric

drills? So close to competition as well?

It may be just a coincidence that a number of the players have been

getting injuries. And it may be another coincidence that in the

second half of the game against Sweden they all looked like old men

(no offence).

Is it a case of I did it that way when I played 40 years ago and I

won the World Cup. Well you must be right!

Haven't things changed since then?

------------------

Carruthers

Wakefield

UK

[Guest guest]

Carruthers:

>I watched the England team do a number of plyometric drills

> including depth jumps (depth jump to second box etc)? Surely time

> spent completing other training would be far more beneficial -

> especially due to the physical demands of high intensity plyometric

> drills? So close to competition as well?

>

> It may be just a coincidence that a number of the players have been

> getting injuries. And it may be another coincidence that in the

> second half of the game against Sweden they all looked like old men

> (no offence).

** I often query whether some of the exercises may actually lead to

an increased risk of injury and even reduce spontaneity (movement and

thought - same thing). Can the repitition and contrived nature

of 'exercise' have a detrimental effect on the chaotic nature of the

nervous system? As an Englishman I was disappointed that the England

players did not seem able to think for themselves and figure out

their tactics against Sweden were not working. They just

seemed 'programmed' to follow a plan regardless of its outcome.

P.S. Are you guys in the States following the world cup? Your team

played a blinder this morning (GMT) beating one of the favourites 3-2!

Roy Palmer

Bedford

UK

[Guest guest]

<<<As an Englishman I was disappointed that the England players did

not seem able to think for themselves and figure out their tactics

against Sweden were not working. They just seemed 'programmed' to

follow a plan regardless of its outcome.<<<

****I don't know if you watched the programme on Horizon about a week

ago which examined the poor performances of the English team. How

anxiety and expectations affect the brain. Below are a few extracts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/englandpatient.shtml

The England football manager, Sven-Göran sson, believes that

modern soccer matches are not won on the pitch, but inside people's

minds. This film examines not just how sson got inside his

players' brains, but how he is now starting nothing short of a

revolution in English football thinking.

sson's plan, devised with sports psychologist Dr Willi Railo, has

two critical elements. These are to banish the crippling effects of

the fear of failure from the minds of the England players, and to

encourage them to train mentally as well as physically to reach the

highest levels of performance - dubbed playing in 'the zone'.

Neurologists and psychologists from some of Britain's most

prestigious universities believe anxiety and the fear of failure can

make top professionals turn in performances like amateurs, and that

sson and Railo have a way to help the England team endure the

pressure.

Their view is that England's football past has been dogged by fear of

failure. Piling on pressure and relying on patriotism to get people

to perform doesn't work when - at heart - it's just 11 footballers

taking on 11. If players accept they could lose (and that it's

alright when they do) then they'll be less nervous and less prone to

what's called 'choking'. When sportspeople choke, familiar instincts

are overwhelmed by pressure.

Monitoring shows that people use different parts of the brain to

perform actions which they are learning and those which are second

nature. If the brain reverts to its learning mode, motor skills are

constrained and that 89th minute penalty kick goes right over the bar.

Visualisation is fundamental to making sure people play to their best

at all times. As far the brain is concerned, there's little

difference between practising a movement and just thinking through

it. By thinking in advance just how intense the pressure could be,

sson's players can avoid choking when critical moments arise.

sson has a further psychological ace to play. For all his talk

and motivation, he knows he's not there on the pitch. To carry his

thinking onto the field, he relies on so-called cultural architects,

players whose thinking is so close to his own that they do his

bidding without even realising. The captain, Beckham, is

clearly one architect; the team keeps secret just whom the others

might be.

Sports psychology cannot predict whether England will win the World

Cup. However, it does show that - for once - England are going into a

major competition with an unprecedented degree of psychological

preparedness, a critical advantage that the side has never boasted

before. Thirty years of hurt may soon be over.

--------------------------

Well we'll soon see about that on Friday.

Carruthers

Wakefield

UK

[Guest guest]

>P.S. Are you guys in the States following the world cup? Your team

>played a blinder this morning (GMT) beating one of the favourites 3-2!

>

>Roy Palmer

>Bedford

>UK

Oh yes, every day at midnight, 2 and 4am! And yes, we did

surprisingly well against Portugal although we tried hard at the end

of the game to hand the Portuguese a draw.

P.S. What is a blinder?

--

Gerald Lafon

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* Judo America San Diego *

* Email: glafon@... *

* Web: http://www.judoamerica.com *

* Phone: (619) 232-JUDO *

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[Guest guest]

Roy Palmer wrote: I saw the England team doing upside down cycling

(supporting themselves with the elbows and head whilst waving the legs in

the air). As specificity has appeared on the list again, can anyone tell me

what is the thinking behind this exercise and what are the benefits.

I would suspect it was part of a recovery session (cool down) or just a joke

for the cameras (just to get people talking??).

Melbourne, Australia

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[Guest guest]

Roy Palmer wrote: I saw the England team doing upside down cycling

(supporting themselves with the elbows and head whilst waving the legs in

the air). As specificity has appeared on the list again, can anyone tell me

what is the thinking behind this exercise and what are the benefits.

I would suspect it was part of a recovery session (cool down) or just a joke

for the cameras (just to get people talking??).

Melbourne, Australia

_________________________________________________________________

Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

[Guest guest]

I attended a conference several years ago and there was a representative

from one of the universities discussing research they were doing with their

football programming. Evidently, post-training sessions the athletes

participated in a sub-maximal aquatic aerobic workout and then blood lactate

levels were measured. Has this research surfaced or been published and if

so, where is the reference? This will definitely be interesting to see if

there is any performance/recoevery advantages?

Meg Stolt, MS, CSCS

New York, NY

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