Field Based Tests For Soccer Players

This book systematically summarizes the accuracy, precision, and repeatability levels of field-based tests applied in soccer. It considers such details as the effectiveness of tests for different age categories and sexes. In this book, the readers will be able to check all the field-based tests conceived for fitness assessment in soccer through a large systematic review made to the literature. In addition a brief characterization of each test and presentation of the concurrent validity and repeatability levels for each test will be provided. Finally, the book contains a general discussion of the implications of the tests for different methodological approaches to training. It will be use to sports scientists and practitioners.

What are the most effective tools, techniques and technologies available to coaches and sport scientists in the assessment of player and team performance? This is the first book dedicated to the assessment of performance in field sports such as soccer, rugby, hockey and lacrosse. It provides detailed and clear information about the laboratory and field-based methods that can be used to evaluate improvements in individual and team performance, from basic physiological assessment to the use of video and information technologies. Standing at the interface between sport sciences and sport coaching, the book examines a wide range of performance criteria, including: physiology strength, conditioning and fitness decision-making coordination and motor skills sport specific skills team play. Integrating cutting-edge theory, research and technology with best practice in applied sport science, this book is important reading for all students of sport sciences, kinesiology, human movement science, sports performance, or sports coaching. Christopher Carling is Head of Sports Science at Lille Football Club. Thomas Reilly is Director of the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He is President of the World Commission of Science and Sports. A. Mark Williams is Professor of Motor Behaviour at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University.

The sport of soccer has evolved immensely since its beginning around 2,000 years ago and is now considered the most popular sport in the world. The research related to the physical, psychological, and tactical aspects of the game has risen in conjunction with its fame. Elite Soccer Players: Maximizing Performance and Safety seeks to inform the reader with the most current research connected to optimizing physical performance and reducing the risk of injury of the elite soccer athlete for a variety of ages. After providing an initial brief overview of applying physical and psychological scientific concepts in soccer ("Part I: Laying the Foundation”), this book then takes the reader through a series of important yet novel parts including: “Athlete Monitoring and Data Analysis,” “Optimizing Physical Performance,” “Injury Epidemiology and Risk Reduction,” “Achieving Peak Performance and Safety in Various Environmental Conditions,” and “Unique Aspects of the Game.” The goal of Elite Soccer Players: Maximizing Performance and Safety is to conceptualize and expand upon the current research associated with these topics and provide an applicable point of view to the coaches, sport scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, and sports medicine professionals who work with these athletes every day.

Now in a fully revised and updated third edition, Science and Soccer is still the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to the physiology, biomechanics and psychology behind the world's most popular sport. Offering important guidance on how science translates into practice, the book examines every key facet of the sport, with a particular focus on the development of elite performers. The topics covered include: anatomy, physiology, psychology and biomechanics; principles of training; nutrition; physical and mental preparation; playing surfaces and equipment; decision-making and skill acquisition; coaching and coach education; performance analysis; talent identification and youth development. Science and Soccer: Developing Elite Performers is a unique resource for students and academics working in sports science. It is essential reading for all professional support staff working in the game, including coaches at all levels, physiotherapists, conditioning specialists, performance analysts, club doctors and sport psychologists.

Training for Soccer Players blends a sports science approach to training with practical advice for coaches, enabling them to deliver effective training for players of all abilities.The book covers: An overview of anatomy, the mechanics of the human body and movement, and how this directly relates to the physical demands of soccer; Specific training methodologies in relation to aerobic and anaerobic training; Principles of programme design, and guidelines on how to design a training programme for all abilities; Means of fitness testing, ensuring practitioners can monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of soccer training programmes; Nutrition and nutritional strategies for optimizing a player's training and performance. Essential reading for soccer coaches wishing to provide structured and progressive training for their players. Includes expert contributions from coaches and sports science professionals. Superbly illustrated with 120 colour illustrations. Marc Briggs is a Graduate Tutor at Northumbria University Dept of Sport Development, soccer coach and has played football at professional clubs.

A key resource for coaches, scientists and clinicians Sport is by its nature competitive and even during youth it is performed at different levels with elite young athletes at the top of the performance pyramid. A coordinated series of comprehensive, research-based reviews on factors underlying the performance of children and adolescents involved in competitive sport is presented in this volume. Leading exercise and sport scientists provide the latest information on the physiology of young elite athletes, the essential role of nutrition, and the effects of endurance, high-intensity and high-resistance training and overtraining as well as on the importance of laboratory and field-based monitoring of young athletes' performances. Further, thermoregulation and environmental factors that might affect performance are re-viewed. Finally, strategies for preventing sudden cardiac death and the diagnosis and management of common sport injuries in young athletes are discussed. The book provides up-to-date, evidence-based information for sports scientists, coaches, physiotherapists, pediatric sports medicine specialists, and other professionals involved in supporting elite young athletes.