Out of Africa - My First SoccerFit Session (by Anand Sundaresan, Guest Blogger)

Having grown up initially in Zambia in southern Africa my football skills were formed from street football
involving kicking a ball (made from plastic bags and rubber bands) and
learning dribbling skills from the kids in my neighbourhood. Footballs
were hard to come by and coaches in schools or otherwise were non existent.
I've somehow managed to play some level of recreational competitive football
(of very dubious quality) based on these street honed skills. So
when I heard of SoccerFit which was an opportunity to learn soccer skills
that I had never formally learned before and stay fit at the same time,
I was excited.

The first session required a bit of motivation in dragging my lazy ass out of bed earlier on a Saturday
morning for a 9 AM start and also meant going easy on the drinks on Friday
evening. However once I had dragged myself to the field in Randwick, I found
a very well organised session which reminded me of the training sessions
you see on T.V. when they are interviewing players. Even better was the
enthusiasm of the participants. We had a diverse group (moms, men with
kids, singles and DINKs) who all enjoyed football and the group environment. Once
I'd managed to shake off that weekend morning daze and worked out the sequence
of some of the drills, it was a great session. The pace was just right
and we gradually got warmed up and nimble before we did the more extensive
drills. Our trainer was incredibly encouraging even when we were probably
screwing up the drills completely. The two touch no contact
game at the end was great fun and you are forced to learn ball skills in
passing and moving into space as otherwise you lose the ball. You also
have to learn to communicate really well with your team mates and be there
to support them always.

At the end of it , the most exciting
part of it was I feel like I'm learning a new skill, even though I have
been playing this game for years. I have formed the conclusion that if you have not played before, or for a long time, SoccerFit makes football refreshing
and fun.

Visit the SoccerFit website : www.soccerfit.com.au

DISCLAIMER NOTICE : All data and information provided on this site is for informational
purposes only. SoccerFit (the organisation) makes no representations as to
accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any
information on this site and will not be liable for any errors,
omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or
damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on
an as-is basis.

Stretching is a big help at SoccerFit (by Cate Cahill Guest Blogger)

Soccer involves a lot of powerful and unique movements. Whether jumping for a header, changing direction or sudden sprints, the body is constantly moving in a way that is potentially damaging to muscles if the body has not been properly conditioned. This is why we take the time to warm up for SoccerFit.

An important part of the warm up is stretching. This is when we loosen stiff muscles and try to expose them to movement. Recent studies have favoured dynamic stretching over static stretching as an effective preventative to injury for sports that involve powerful movements.

Dynamic stretching involves movement whereas static stretching is standing still, typically, and leaning into stretches. For soccer some of the best dynamic stretches involve skipping (for calf muscles), ankle rotations, gentle changes of direction while jogging, swinging or kicking the legs from small arcs and gradually increasing, swinging legs sideways, walking lunges (hamstrings, hip flexors), running with high knees, running with butt kicks, and not to forget the rest of the body - arm circles, body rotations, neck circles ad so on.

Static stretches still have a place especially for relaxing the muscles. They should always be done when the body is warmed up. They are useful for the end of training or after a game. Some people prefer a mix of static and dynamic stretches before exercise. If it works for you...!

The beauty of Dynamic Stretching is that it can be incorporated into the warm up phase, keeping constant movement of the body, without having to stop completely to stretch. Dynamic Stretching is the most effective "wake up" for muscles before more intensive exercise and soccer games.

(Picture SoccerFit Randwick - Ankle Circles)

Women in a league of their own

Football Federation Australia (FFA) and Westfield this week announced a landmark agreement in support of the fastest growing team sport for women in the country – women’s football.

The Westfield Group’s support involves women’s football ranging from the Westfield Championship for Girls, the establishment of a new national women’s league known as the Westfield W-League, and the national women’s team to be known as the Westfield Matildas.

Westfield has also extended its partnership in respect of the Qantas Socceroos and the Hyundai A-League.

“We are delighted to announce this new and historic agreement for women’s football,” said FFA CEO Ben Buckley.

“Women’s football is a big growth sport which is enjoyed by many girls and women and watched by many mums and grandmothers each weekend, and it’s terrific to have the support of Westfield in our efforts to grow and develop the sport even further.”

Buckley said that women’s football has enjoyed an average annual growth rate of 6.3% over the past five years, especially on the back of the performance of the Matildas in the Women’s World Cup in 2007.

“The Westfield Matildas are one of the highest achieving sporting teams in Australia, having made four Women’s World Cup tournaments and several Olympic Games, and football offers a unrivalled career path for talented elite women athletes,” Buckley said.

Read the rest of this article at Football Australia’s website

(photo by Koichi Kamoshida © Getty Images)

Passing to a Player on the Run (by Cate Cahill Guest Blogger)

If you are passing to an open player who is moving into an open space, it is crucial to play the ball in front of her. If you play it toward where her feet are at the moment you strike the ball, by the time the ball gets to her a second or two later it will be behind her.

So play the ball ahead of the player on the move. The faster she is moving, the further ahead she will need the ball to be. Always try to play a ball so that the player receiving it will not have to break or adjust her stride pattern to receive the pass.

Two-Touch Soccer – great for fitness and teamplay (by Cate Cahill guest blogger)

Towards the end of a SoccerFit fitness workout session, we divide up for the SoccerFit game experience. Soccer drills are good for fitness, and learning skills, but the game experience is where there is some great fitness and team interaction to be had. Applying and practicing soccer skills in "real time" in the game experience also creates a great sense of achievement where we can put what we've learned into practice to further enjoy the flow of the soccer game.

SoccerFit games are devised to be as non contact as possible. One of the ways to do this is to keep the ball moving by limiting the number of "touches" allowed on the ball by any player. A 'touch' is any contact that a player makes with the ball whether a kicked pass or a contact used to control the football. SoccerFit instructors enforce a 'two touch' rule and this very effectively eliminates the need for tackles to change possession of the ball. In an interesting way, it also changes the way that more experienced players influence the game by ensuring that the ball is shared by everyone. If a player touches more than twice, then the ball is turned over with a free kick to the other team.

Two-touch and other restrictions on a game are not just a SoccerFit initiative - in fact they form they basis for training for football teams from top professionals to the amateur clubs around the world.

So why is two-touch soccer an important way to boost fitness and teamplay?

It's simple – two-touch encourages players to 'receive-pass-and-move'. That is, to receive the ball (with a controlling touch), pass the ball (a second touch) and move into space in the hope of receiving the ball again. This continuous movement approach gives all participants an excellent fitness workout as well as teaching them how to work as a team to move the ball as rapidly as possible around the playing area.

Two-touch also teaches players to have vision on the field. It forces them to be clever about where they position themselves and to be ready to respond to help other team-members. It also motivates them to be prepared to pass the ball at the earliest time and teaches them the crucial importance of the first, or controlling, touch. Other key aspects of two-touch include:

· The ability to control the ball at first touch, and its placement subsequent to that touch dictates how the ball will be played.

· Off the ball the supporting players know they need to move quickly into a position of support.

· Decision making that players learn should include whether to pass to the feet of a player or pass into space beyond a running team mate.

It's the flow of the game around the field that creates the beauty of soccer - players linking together as a team to move a spherical object creatively and ingeniously to achieve the ultimate - scoring a goal. Two-touch soccer training promotes and teaches this flow.

My First SoccerFit Session (by Elaine Chang, Guest Blogger)

Joggers, socks, shorts, t-shirt et voila. Mr. SoccerFit says that’s all I’ll be needing today. I could have also brought along my brother’s old but trusty size 5 Paul’s Warehouse-soccer ball, but I wasn’t sure it would be good enough as it has recently grown a tiny nose – Mr. SoccerFit later tells me that it would have been fine. I might brave the fight for space on public transport next time and bring my nose-ball.

The green spread of the playing area greets my office-sore eyes. While the sky has been a little weepy, the ground isn’t sodden and Mr. SoccerFit has thoughtfully sent round a confirmation SMS to let everyone know that SoccerFit is still on that afternoon. In any case I’m not going to let a little damp grass get in the way of my introduction to the world of soccer, or fitness, or at least my attempt to get there.

As I approach I spot our trainer bouncing a ball up and down on his knees while talking to a girl with a blond ponytail – who is dressed in much groovier soccer regalia than my own (obviously someone who has played for a club before). I get closer and see that she is pulling her socks up over shin pads. Wow, she looks tough. I’ve only got anklets.

“Hello! Is this SoccerFit?”

“Yes, you’ve come to the right place.” the trainer smiles at me. “This is Mira. ” He stopped juggling for a moment to introduce the pretty girl, decked out in black gear, who looks like she means business, soccer business. He continued, “This will be the first lesson for everyone in this group, so you’ll all be in the same boat here. I’ll be coaching you this afternoon.”

After some preliminary chit-chat about the weather, and exchanging stories of how we heard about SoccerFit (me, through a friend who plays in Coogee; Mira via a friend who’s played in the city) and if we’ve ever played soccer before (me, no, unless you count a couple of PE games at my all-girls high-school where five girls kicked a ball around a field while another 15 class-members feigned moving around in shady patches). More SoccerFit people soon arrived and we got started on warming-up and stretching. We then went straight into the technique drills that take up the first half of the session.

I say technique drills, but they were sweat-inducing jogs up and down the field that required us to reach down to touch the grass, skip sideways in a line, change directions, change directions again then jump up to pretend to head a ball… etc. We dribbled balls around cones with different parts of our feet, passed balls to a partner, attempted to dribble our balls past our partner, and finally tried some group-passing exercises. With all the passing drills, the trainer made us yell the name of the person to whom we were sending the ball; this turned out to be handy preparation for ball-passes in the second half of the class: a noisy game of basic-rules soccer.

The basic-rules for our SoccerFit game included:

- no balls above waist height (a protective measure for beginners like me),

- only two consecutive touches of the ball permitted per player (to prevent ball-hogging, or rather to encourage ball-sharing),

- no scoring from beyond the half-way line (not sure why?), and

- no contact (thank god, that Mira girl was nice but still tough).

Apart from some anxious moments of not being entirely sure in which direction I was supposed to be scoring (we’d just changed direction and I was adrenalin-charged), I managed to score one goal and I was left feeling more delightfully exhausted and sweaty than I’d been for possibly a year! I was a little winded but mostly amazed. This was going to be brilliant exercise.

After our warm-down, we packed up shop, someone kindly handing me a WetOne and a stick of gum, and another person offering a few of us a lift to the train station. What a nice group of people. I would certainly be coming back for more.

To visit the SoccerFit website, please click here

SoccerFit Solo - a real calorie-burner

So you're going to one of our regular SoccerFit group sessions, or benefitting from the dedicated services of our specialist SoccerFit 1-2-1 Personal Trainers, what else can you do? Well, lots really, in fact, try SoccerFit Solo - getting out there on your own, just you and your football, and working hard, on your juggling, your tricks, dribbling, weaving, heading and just having some great fun. Even half an hour of SoccerFit Solo a day work will really zap those calories and help with weight control efforts. And the other amazing thing...it's absolutely free, it doesn't cost a cent.

This I think is one of the great undiscovered benefits of soccer, possibly moreso than any other sport. Because so much emphasis in soccer is on close in control of the ball with the legs (and other body parts), there is an enormous range of moves and body actions that one can apply to maintain ball control. The greater the range of actions, and the expertise with which you can implement them, the better your in-game performance can get (if indeed you wish to play competitively, or even socially). Many ball control actions place a high energy demand on your body and generally, the more complex the movement, the more energy your body must output - this is where some serious calorie burning can kick in.

A small experiment I often run at our SoccerFit sessions demonstrates this principle in a very simple way. Firstly we run with speed over a short distance (30 metres or so) turn and run back to the original starting point. We then effectively repeat the exercise, but this time dribbling a ball and maintaining close control over it. Although this is at a slower pace than the first activity, when it is completed I ask the participants which felt more challenging. The majority typically say that the latter activity using the ball was significantly more intensive.

I am not suggesting that all fitness activities need to be intensive - generally a balanced mix of light and heavier activities make for a great workout - but if time is short, and you want to achieve a raised level of intensity, a 20 or 30 minute SoccerFit Solo session is a great option.

Not to mention that well-executed control skills are the most beautiful facet of the game. We all gasp in admiration when Portugal's Christian Ronaldo dodges effortlessly past a handful of big-name professional defenders and slides the ball with pin-point accuracy past an equally world-famous goalkeeper. Though very few people can ever expect to approximate the skills of Christian Ronaldo, at a more basic level, we can all work on our skills as a way to enrich our love and appreciation of the game.

There is an endless amount of things to try during SoccerFit Solo, and if you are ever short of inspiration, please feel free to ask our SoccerFit trainers for a new drill or a new juggling style to try.

Please observe suitable health and safety precautions when undertaking any form of exercise or physical acitivity. Click here to access the SoccerFit Health Safety and Risk Awareness Guidelines.

To visit the SoccerFit website, please click here