# Can we talk about fitness?



## pooka (Jan 9, 2020)

Hey all, this is a 2 part question for those with kids already playing collegiate soccer. 
1. My DD is a 16 year old 03 (U17). She got a functional assessment done on Tuesday by a physical therapist/trainer. We were advised that she needed to start weight lifting in order to build more strength in her hamstrings, glutes/hips, and core. My question is when did your kiddos start weight training, and did it have a negative effect on their speed? Also, did it help with injury prevention or is that a rote answer?

2. Were your kids "fit enough" when they got to college? If so, how often were they working out; if not, what did they need to work on? 

Bonus question: What "beep test" level was your DD college fitness test minimum?


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## outside! (Jan 10, 2020)

pooka said:


> Hey all, this is a 2 part question for those with kids already playing collegiate soccer.
> 1. My DD is a 16 year old 03 (U17). She got a functional assessment done on Tuesday by a physical therapist/trainer. We were advised that she needed to start weight lifting in order to build more strength in her hamstrings, glutes/hips, and core. My question is when did your kiddos start weight training, and did it have a negative effect on their speed? Also, did it help with injury prevention or is that a rote answer?
> 
> 2. Were your kids "fit enough" when they got to college? If so, how often were they working out; if not, what did they need to work on?
> ...


1. Weight lifting will make them sore for a while, and they will be a little slower when they are sore. DD did some strength training with her club starting her sophomore year of HS.
2. Depends who you ask. She was fitter than most of the incoming freshman and passed most of the tests, but had to work on passing the Cooper (I think 4 laps + 100 m in under 12 minutes is her team's requirement).

Bonus: As far as I can figure out, there are many variations of the beep test so it is difficult to compare apples to apples.


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## Simisoccerfan (Jan 10, 2020)

She started lifting at 16 and it only helped her speed.  It definitely helps with injury but dd still tore her acl/meniscus her senior year from being wiped out by another player (contact injury).

She was 5 months one week post surgery at the start of camp.  Had been working out and running most days prior.  Initially got a 30 on the yoyo test.  She retook it 5 days later and got a 37.   The team target was a 35. Obviously she was not game fit coming back from injury and was not cleared for another 6 weeks.


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## espola (Jan 10, 2020)

pooka said:


> Hey all, this is a 2 part question for those with kids already playing collegiate soccer.
> 1. My DD is a 16 year old 03 (U17). She got a functional assessment done on Tuesday by a physical therapist/trainer. We were advised that she needed to start weight lifting in order to build more strength in her hamstrings, glutes/hips, and core. My question is when did your kiddos start weight training, and did it have a negative effect on their speed? Also, did it help with injury prevention or is that a rote answer?
> 
> 2. Were your kids "fit enough" when they got to college? If so, how often were they working out; if not, what did they need to work on?
> ...


My son (2010 HS graduate) in his last year before college played club soccer in the summer (practices and tournaments) and fall (2-3 days practice a week, 1-2 league games on weekend), high school Thanksgiving to March (5-6 days a week, practices or games), then back to club soccer for National Cup and a Summer League that ended about 10 days before he went to join his college team early for "captain's practice".  From a distance, I thought he was keeping up, but in the first weekend of games (exhibitions against D2 teams) he tore a quad muscle that was the worst injury in terms of games missed in his college career.


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## RHMF23 (Jan 10, 2020)

My DD is a freshman starter in a D1 program, she started weight training at 16 but only after an ACL tear.  Her JR/SR club seasons she continued.  I can tell you in P5 conferences, weight training is essential for an incoming freshman both for injury prevention and to be able to just hang in tough games.  As far as reducing speed, there is no speed reduction, if anything once you learn to use new strength it makes explosiveness and agility increase.

You will get a fitness package,  and your University's beep test expectation.  Some are general, some are very detailed and particular.  Ours was detailed day by day.  Your choice to follow or not.  My DD played with boys, had strength trainer ( didn't really follow packet, but focused on hams, quads, and glutes), ran, and practiced the beep test a few times to meet her schools minimum requirement to play which was 35. The unwritten rule was 40+ to start or play significant minutes as a Freshman.   Weight training gives confidence, stability, and a little more umpf going into challenges.  After her ACL recovery the best advice given to her was stay strong and go hard into challenges, go timid and get hurt.  She's a MF.  Her first beep test was a 45.  

Hope this helps.


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## Giesbock (Jan 10, 2020)

Appreciate this info. My daughter is HS sophomore playing her second season of varsity. Also played DPL and now called up to guest play DA but we’ll see about that after this HS season.  I suppose she has a reasonable expectation of playing college ball somewhere..(d1, d2, d3??) 

Her training coach of about 6 years is a big proponent of correctly executed dynamic warm ups. I’ve noticed that some clubs are pretty lackadaisical ...kinda coach leaving it up to the players to do it right or not. (A lot of girls look like they’ve never really been taught proper technique..or they’re being careless and just going through the motions.)

Do colleges have trainers at practice that emphasize good warm up? Or is it left to the players?

One other “beginner” question: Any thoughts on running track during off season.  Good idea vis a vis conditioning and acceleration?  Or, better to focus on touch, field perception, instinctive game-pace reaction, etc?

Thanks a lot.


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## RHMF23 (Jan 11, 2020)

Giesbock said:


> Appreciate this info. My daughter is HS sophomore playing her second season of varsity. Also played DPL and now called up to guest play DA but we’ll see about that after this HS season.  I suppose she has a reasonable expectation of playing college ball somewhere..(d1, d2, d3??)
> 
> Her training coach of about 6 years is a big proponent of correctly executed dynamic warm ups. I’ve noticed that some clubs are pretty lackadaisical ...kinda coach leaving it up to the players to do it right or not. (A lot of girls look like they’ve never really been taught proper technique..or they’re being careless and just going through the motions.)
> 
> ...


Yes, in my DD's case they have dedicated trainer that runs warm up and cool down for every scheduled team practice, game, testing, and weight room session.

DD never did track, can't speak for that, never had time.  My DD loved the TOCA trainer if you have one in your area.


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## Soccerfan2 (Jan 11, 2020)

Giesbock said:


> Appreciate this info. My daughter is HS sophomore playing her second season of varsity. Also played DPL and now called up to guest play DA but we’ll see about that after this HS season.  I suppose she has a reasonable expectation of playing college ball somewhere..(d1, d2, d3??)
> 
> Her training coach of about 6 years is a big proponent of correctly executed dynamic warm ups. I’ve noticed that some clubs are pretty lackadaisical ...kinda coach leaving it up to the players to do it right or not. (A lot of girls look like they’ve never really been taught proper technique..or they’re being careless and just going through the motions.)
> 
> ...


There’s an off-season??

My DD has done track and cross country. They’re kids, so they should pick what else to do based on what they enjoy. If track includes plyo and strength training, I find that very helpful for soccer also.


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## msoccerm (Jan 11, 2020)

Track is great - but does she have to compete at meets? That's where I see newbies to track get injured. My daughter sometimes trains with her old track team in off season, but the coach has her wear middle distance shoes at practice and not spikes even when sprinting to supposedly decrease risk of injury/stress fractures (because she is not training to compete).

If she's looking to play in college I personally would look at doing some privates or semi-privates to work on touch, shooting, decision making etc. if she's not already. If money is an issue ask around. We found an old semi-pro who did sessions for dirt cheap. She learned so much from him.

Strength training is a must, doesn't have to be with weights. And get a proper program to work on specific weaknesses and get the program updated every few months.


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## Simisoccerfan (Jan 13, 2020)

Giesbock said:


> Appreciate this info. My daughter is HS sophomore playing her second season of varsity. Also played DPL and now called up to guest play DA but we’ll see about that after this HS season.  I suppose she has a reasonable expectation of playing college ball somewhere..(d1, d2, d3??)
> 
> Her training coach of about 6 years is a big proponent of correctly executed dynamic warm ups. I’ve noticed that some clubs are pretty lackadaisical ...kinda coach leaving it up to the players to do it right or not. (A lot of girls look like they’ve never really been taught proper technique..or they’re being careless and just going through the motions.)
> 
> ...


My dd''s D1 team has several trainers.  There is the main Athletic Trainer/PT who is present at every practice and is dedicated full time to the team. She provides all of the treatments for the players.   There is a High Performance Coach who does their running and warmups and they also have a Strength and Fitness coach for weight training.   They also have a Data Analytics director besides the Head Coach and two assistant Coaches.   Then the school itself had an entire medical staff.  I think most big programs have all of this.


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## gkrent (Jan 13, 2020)

pooka said:


> Hey all, this is a 2 part question for those with kids already playing collegiate soccer.
> 1. My DD is a 16 year old 03 (U17). She got a functional assessment done on Tuesday by a physical therapist/trainer. We were advised that she needed to start weight lifting in order to build more strength in her hamstrings, glutes/hips, and core. My question is when did your kiddos start weight training, and did it have a negative effect on their speed? Also, did it help with injury prevention or is that a rote answer?
> 
> No negative effects.  Not sure about injury prevention, two of my players tore their ACL their 3rd year in D1, so they were pretty damn fit and far along in their weight training program
> ...


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