From Science to Performance
Routledge – 2004 – 232 pages
As the adult game has increased in popularity, youth soccer has also seen significant expansion in recent years. The popularity of the youth game is set to continue. Young boy and girl players wish to emulate professional soccer stars and the professional game, often with long-term financial rewards in mind, is increasingly keen to develop young talent.
Applied sports science is now a well-established feature of the adult game but the sports science that supports modern football does not translate directly into the youth game. The coaches of young players need specific information about children. Themes explored in this text include:
Youth Soccer: From Science to Performance blends current child-focused sports science theory with youth-specific coaching practice to help create soccer development strategies for children. It promotes knowledge and understanding in all these areas and will further professional expertise amongst coaches who wish to develop the all year round potential of youth soccer players and train the stars of the future.
1. An Introduction to the science of youth soccer 2. The growth of the physiological systems 3. Environmental factors in youth soccer 4. Injury in youth soccer players 5. The young female soccer player 6. Developing fitness in the young soccer player 7. Nutrition for young soccer players 8. Acquiring soccer skills: Effective practice and instruction 9. Perceptual and cognitive expertise: Developing game intelligence 10. The science of pedagogy and youth soccer coaching 11. Psychosocial considerations of elite youth player development 12. The role of the football academy.