Coaches > Coaching Toolbox

Introduction

Included below are a number of reference materials which may assist in your role as coach. These include information on how to ensure your players are safe and fit; an online coaching course for Small Whites and an instruction on conducting player profiling.

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Coaching and Injury Prevention

Playing the game isn’t enough to develop the fitness required for peak performance and injury prevention. If you’re not already, now is the time to start preparing your players for a safe, successful and enjoyable season. It doesn’t matter how good a player is, if they’re not fit, or they get injured, they won’t perform at their best, if at all. And if one player's performance suffers, the team's performance suffers. Click here for a full summary on coaching smart.

For more helpful tools and information on health, nutrition, equipment and environment (see also Players Toolbox):

SoccerSmart Fifa.com

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Fit for Football - Warming Up, Cooling Down and Stretching

A thorough warm-up and cool-down is crucial to prepare the body for the activity to come, this time and next time. The most important thing is to gradually increase body temperature and then get the body in to the positions it will need to adopt during play. Jogging, side-stepping, skipping, etc, followed by dynamic stretches (leg swings, walking lunges, etc.) is ideal. Ball work and then some higher intensity movement should then follow. Build up to maximal sprinting gradually and don’t let anyone take shots on goal until they're all fully warmed-up.

After play, some light jogging and static stretches will reduce muscle soreness later and start the preparation for the next game or training session. For full details of dynamic and static stretches for. For more explanation click here.

Stretching Guides:

SoccerSmart

Fifa - The 11+

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Player Profiling

Developing a player profile for yourself or your players helps to:

Identify strengths and weaknesses, to help guide training programme design
Monitor development
Guide return from illness or injury

There are two parts to a Player Profile:

Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire
2. The Fitness Check-up

Ideally, profiling should be done at the start and end of pre-season, midway through the season and again at the end.

For detailed information - click here

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