Food and Fitness: soccer

Soccer is played worldwide by young and old, male and female, amateur and professional. The game makes many and varied physical demands on players. Top-class soccer players require very high levels of fitness. During a 90-minute match, their average work rate is about 70 per cent maximum and they burn an extra 1000-1500 Calories. They may cover more than 10 kilometres and have to sprint and jump many times with little chance to recover between bursts of maximum effort. So, in addition to their ball skills, they need to develop sprinting speed, endurance, muscular strength, and muscular power. Training usually involves a mixture of running, weight training, and circuit training, as well as ball work (passing, shooting, ball control, and heading). Flexibility is one aspect of fitness which is often neglected, especially by recreational players. Repeated sprinting, jumping, and kicking tends to tighten muscles in the lower back and legs. Without appropriate flexibility training players are likely to strain or pull muscles and tendons. The most common sites of injury are the calf muscles, Achilles tendons, and hamstrings. Before a match, each player should warm-up by jogging for 5-10 minutes. This should be followed by some flexibility and mobility exercises (especially for the hamstrings and the adductor muscles in the groin), three or four sprints over distances of about 25 metres, and then specific ball skills, such as dribbling and passing.