This warm up will get your players' bodies and muscles adequately
warmed, help prevent injuries, get the players ample touches on the ball, and get them in a competitive game mode ... ready
to play.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRE-GAME WARM UP
7 MINUTES Jog, shuffle, backwards, change of direction runs with increasing intensity and speed, mixed with dynamic (not static) stretches, skips, lunges
( make sure that all the leg muscles get attention as well as shoulders, arms
neck and hips)
2 MINUTES 10 yard speed bursts with rest between
5 MINUTES Passing and moving drills
10 MINUTES Competitive 1v1, then moving to small sided games or only small sided
games
5 MINUTES Finishing drill
5 MINUTES Water, equipment check, mental reminders
NOTES:
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Encourage players to keep warm up pants and sweat tops on until right
before the game unless the temperature is well into the 50s or maybe even 60s on a windy or rainy day. Substitutes need to keep warm and their legs ready to get into the game.
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It would be ideal to add a few minutes of juggling, touches, dribbling
patterns to the front end of this warm up.
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Teach your players to NOT line up in front of the goal and start shooting
before a game or practice if they get there early. That is inviting injury and
is not the best use of time.
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Static stretches are the stretch and hold for 15-20 seconds kind of
stretch. They have been proven to take a lot of time, have no positive effect
on injury prevention and to zap a muscle of the explosive kind of strength needed for soccer.
The place for static stretching is after a game or practice, and then it is helpful to do a light jog or high knee
walk afterwards. Dynamic stretches involve usually slow, full movement of the
muscle. Many of them can be performed while jogging, skipping or walking. For example, lifting one knee up and across toward the opposite hip while walking
or jogging. The old familiar arm circles while jogging are another example. Sometimes the movement is a faster and more isolated as in butt kicks where the heel
contacts the glute while running. The point is that these kinds of stretches
will get the muscles and the whole body ready to play soccer much better than standing or sitting still for several minutes
while zapping the muscles of strength.