# Conditioning?



## mommato2girls (Aug 17, 2016)

How much conditioning should be part of practice? Should there be a conditioning component once a week? Twice? Running/sprints? I'm just curious what the norm seems to be. 04/05 girls.


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## LadiesMan217 (Aug 17, 2016)

mommato2girls said:


> How much conditioning should be part of practice? Should there be a conditioning component once a week? Twice? Running/sprints? I'm just curious what the norm seems to be. 04/05 girls.


Their hair ? Conditioning should be outside of practice (unless we are talking track practice) and almost every night. Running and sprints will go a long way especially for the non-talented soccer child. Intervals are huge!


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## mommato2girls (Aug 17, 2016)

Thx for the reply. And if the kids don't condition outside of practice? What then? Should there be repercussions? Or does the coach not get involved?


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## LadiesMan217 (Aug 17, 2016)

mommato2girls said:


> Thx for the reply. And if the kids don't condition outside of practice? What then? Should there be repercussions? Or does the coach not get involved?


The kids that do this outside of practice (maybe 1 out of every 10/20 girls) will benefit. A good spanking is in order. This is not the coaches responsibility.


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## mommato2girls (Aug 17, 2016)

Thanks, I wasn't sure what the norm was. Do most teams participate in team runs? Hikes etc?


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## zebrafish (Aug 17, 2016)

My kid's club has an optional 45 minute weekly conditioning/"speed" session. The team coach is not involved. 

Sometimes she does this, but I typically try to get my kid out there doing something with me if possible-- going on bike ride, playing frisbee, tennis, etc.


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## Penalty Kicks Stink (Aug 19, 2016)

Our coach did a summer conditioning session with hills, 12o's, beach run and they had to run 3miles in under 30 min.  Our girls came out and ran off 2 tournament victories and our improved conditioning had alot to do with it


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## Laced (Aug 19, 2016)

For  young players, definitely under 12 on the boys side and possibly under 14, there shouldn't be any intensive conditioning, as it's actually harmful. It's just a shame that some clubs/coaches put wins ahead of the long-term interests of the players.


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## espola (Aug 19, 2016)

Join a track club that has practice one day a week.


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## Laced (Aug 19, 2016)

espola said:


> Join a track club that has practice one day a week.


Don't.

Avoid sports that utilize the same muscles as soccer, e.g., basketball, track. Instead, engage in sports that use the opposite muscles. Swimming is an excellent alternative sport, as it lengthens the muscles whereas soccer shortens muscles. Soccer players tend to have strong quads, so work on her hamstring. Work on upper body strength so she won't be pushed around and it won't tire the same muscles. Work on landing and turning mechanics to avoid ACL tear. Think long term growth of your daughter. Immediate wins may make you feel good today but does little for your daughter long term healthy and development.


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## timbuck (Aug 19, 2016)

Interesting topic. 
A kid won't become faster by adding 1 speed session a week.  And with the changing bodies as kids go through puberty, you gotta be careful with how things are done. 
Running with proper mechanics, quickly changing direction and effort levels will go a long way towards increasing speed and endurance for a soccer match. 
If your coach is pushing the girls during a 90 minute practice and there isn't a ton of standing around, that should help with fitness levels. 
My kid and her teammates are 6th graders.  They have PE everyday in school. They run the mile once a week. And play a variety of sports throughout the year. 
So these girls have 3 hours of practice per week and at least 1 hour during a game on a weekend (much more if it's a tournament). Add in the PE class (it lasts an hour, but probably 30 minutes of actual activity), that's another 2.5 hours.  Many do a private or small group training for another hour per week. 
That's about 7.5 hours of scheduled physical activity per week.  That's pretty good for an adolescent.   How many of us adults run/train for 6 hours a week?
I think you're better of sending a kid outside to ride bikes, play pickup soccer/basketball/other sport, play in the pool or ocean, chase Pokemon, walk the dog, go for a hike, play tag, etc than sticking them on a track or running ladders with some guy blowing a whistle a few times per week. 
Most of our team did a 5k run this summer. A few of them trained by running a few miles on the road here and there.  Most of them just did soccer practice and summer "kid stuff" to prepare.  They all ran sub 30.  The 2 fastest ran 26:34. (Which put them in 8th place among girls 8-12 years old.  They were about 45 seconds off of the first place finisher).


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## espola (Aug 20, 2016)

Laced said:


> Don't.
> 
> Avoid sports that utilize the same muscles as soccer, e.g., basketball, track. Instead, engage in sports that use the opposite muscles. Swimming is an excellent alternative sport, as it lengthens the muscles whereas soccer shortens muscles. Soccer players tend to have strong quads, so work on her hamstring. Work on upper body strength so she won't be pushed around and it won't tire the same muscles. Work on landing and turning mechanics to avoid ACL tear. Think long term growth of your daughter. Immediate wins may make you feel good today but does little for your daughter long term healthy and development.


Well, I guess everybody's got one.

No one expects to play soccer at track practice.  

As for long-term development, is your daughter's ambition at 18-22 college soccer or beauty pageants?


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