For all you dads with young soccer players in the house, you know very well that summer provides a golden opportunity for your son or daughter to make leaps in their fitness. But you need a structured plan. Just having your son or daughter do some ladders here or there, or running around the park every week, isn’t going to cut it.
Whether your young soccer player is in a rec league or making their way through a travel soccer program or getting ready for high school soccer, summer fitness work is a chance to give your child a leg up in the most beautiful sport. Read on as The Review Dads give you 5 reasons why your young soccer player needs a fitness program this summer.
At the bottom of this article, make sure to print out our easy-to-follow, giant results summer fitness program that you could quickly put to use for your young soccer player.
Reason #1: The Game Has Changed
Youth soccer has become much more competitive than when you were playing back in the 80’s and 90’s. More is expected of players at a younger age, from individual skills and fitness to game IQ and the flexibility to play under different formations. This is not surprising due to the rising popularity of the sport. The market share for soccer in Europe alone is over $25 billion dollars.
Whether you like it or not, kids aren’t just viewed as athletes but potential commodities. – for soccer leagues, for soccer teams, for soccer academies, for universities, for sponsors, to name just a few.
The game also has fundamentally changed. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, soccer players weren’t expected to be as physically fit or athletic as they are today. The fullbacks, who used to be primarily stationary defensive posts, are now considered wingbacks who go up and down the pitch and are fundamental to an offensive attack. Mid-fielders are expected to go box to box. And forwards are like today’s wide receivers – they are expected to be very fast.
Teams understand that it will still take time and experience for players to gain soccer IQ. But they expect players to have the fitness to make off the ball runs as well as the speed to make those runs. Your player can have all the skill in the world, but if he or she isn’t fit enough to make it through a game, or doesn’t have the speed to make those runs, then the skill and ultimately your player will be overlooked.
Reason #2: Your Child’s Soccer Team Doesn’t Focus on Individual Fitness
During the fall and spring seasons, your child’s soccer team focuses primarily on team building skills, such as defending set pieces, passing, and small group games like Rondo. As for fitness, your child’s soccer coach will rarely focus on different types of running. Instead, your child’s fitness primarily comes from running during the practice and sometimes the after-practice lap runs.
While this type of conditioning is important, it doesn’t systematically target the three critical areas of soccer fitness: endurance, strength, and speed.
As your child progresses through the soccer ranks, teams and coaches will expect that your son or daughter will bring with him or her high soccer fitness, that is, good endurance to run throughout the game, the strength to play in a more physical game, and the speed to run past or to catch players.
The drills your child does during the season are not specifically focused on developing and improving individual endurance, strength, and speed. These are only potential consequences of normal training.
But this leaves too much to chance. Give your child the tools this summer to focus on endurance, strength, and speed.
Reason #3: You Will Build the Mamba Mentality in Your Child
Kobe Bryant was a basketball player but his lessons went far beyond just basketball. One of his most important lessons was the idea of the Mamba Mentality – it’s a mindset that encourages your child to be the best version of himself or herself.
A clear fitness program will help your child understand and trust the process, and the hard work that is necessary to get to the next level. As a dad, it’s never too early to start teaching these lessons whether it’s for soccer or other areas in your child’s life.
The point is to show your child that they have agency in their decision to become the best version of themselves.
Reason #4: Your Child’s Fitness Will Improve
The best way to improve your child’s endurance, strength, and speed is for your child to work on your child’s endurance, strength and speed. It may seem simple, but it is often ignored until children are young adults. But in this day and age, you shouldn’t wait until your child is 16 to start teaching them about the importance of targeted fitness training.
You know your child better than anyone. If your child is genuinely interested in becoming a better soccer player, then you should introduce them to a fitness program that targets endurance, strength, and speed. Fitness programs should be flexible, and you can adjust them to meet your child where they are as opposed to where you wished they would be.
Reason #5: You Will Teach Your Child To Be Self-Sufficient
When introducing your child to fitness programs, you start teaching them about structured systems. In other words, if you want to be faster, you must work on your sprints. If you want to be able to run longer throughout the game without getting tired, you have to put in the work of long runs to build endurance. Your child starts learning there is a process and that hard work is the key to that process.
Over time, the fitness programs become more your child’s program than the one you created for them at the beginning of this journey. They take ownership of their fitness, leading to their self-improvement in other areas of their life. They begin to understand that if they want something, they need a system and the consistency of hard work to follow that system. Results earned often don’t happen by accident. It’s an important lesson that children should learn as soon as possible. Fitness is one way to do that.
The Review Dads Summer Fitness Program For Young Soccer Players
This is a beginner program for 10-13 year-olds that targets endurance, strength, and speed. You can adjust the mileage depending on your child’s age and physical fitness level. It uses an effective micro-periodization system that The Review Dads have discussed in a prior article.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | |
| Week 1 | 1 mile jog at talking pace 3 sets jump squats x 13-15 reps, 120-second rest between sets | 3 sets up and down ladder sprint w/ 4 cones spaced about 10 feet apart, 3-minute rest Plyometric Hops (two-footed and 1 footed), 7 cones spaced 3 feet apart, 3 sets, 3-minute rest | 3 sets circuit run preferably mildly hilly (approximately 400-800 meters). 6-minute rest between sets. Training ladder or cone fast feet (in and out, high knees both ways, in and out shuffle). 5 sets of each. 3 minutes rest. |
| Week 2 | 1.5 mile jog at talking pace 3 sets jump squats x 13-15 reps. 90-second rest between sets | 3 sets up and down ladder sprint w/ 4 cones spaced about 10 feet apart, 2:30 minute rest Plyometric Hops (two-footed and 1 footed), 7 cones spaced 3 feet apart, 3 sets, 2:30 minute rest | 3 sets circuit run preferably mildly hilly (approximately 400-800 meters). 5-minute rest between sets. Training ladder or cone fast feet (in and out, high knees both ways, in and out shuffle). 6 sets of each. 3 minutes rest. |
| Week 3 | 2 mile jog at talking pace 4 sets jump squats x 13- 15 reps. 90-second rest between sets | 4 sets up and down ladder sprint w/ 4 cones spaced ten feet apart, 2-minute rest Plyometric Hops (two-footed and 1 footed), 7 cones spaced 3 feet apart, 4 sets, 2:30 minute rest. | 4 sets circuit run preferably mildly hilly (approximately 400-800 meters). 5-minute rest between sets. Training ladder or cone fast feet (in and out, high knees both ways, in and out shuffle). 6 sets of each. 2 minutes rest. |
| Week 4 | 2.5 mile jog at talking pace 5 sets jump squats x 13-15 reps. 90-second rest between sets. | 4 sets up and down ladder sprint, w/ 4 cones spaced 10 feet apart, 90- second rest Plyometric Hops (2 footed and 1 footed), 7 cones spread 3 feet apart, 4 sets, 2-minute rest). | 5 sets circuit run preferably mildly hilly (approximately 400-800 meters). 5-minute rest between sets. Training ladder or cone fast feet (in and out, high knees both ways, in and out shuffle). 7 sets of each. 2 minutes rest. |
| Active Recovery Weeks 1 and 2. | 1.5-mile jog at talking pace 4 sets jump squats x 13-15 reps. 180-second rest between sets. | 3 sets up and down ladder sprint w/ 4 cones spread 10 feet apart, 180-second rest Plyometric Hops (2 footed and 1 footed), 7 cones spread 3 feet apart, 3 sets, 180-second rest). | 3 sets circuit run preferably mildly hilly (approximately 400-800 meters). 6-minute rest between sets. Training ladder or cone fast feet (in and out, high knees both ways, in and out shuffle). 5 sets of each. 180-second rest. |
Once your child has gone through one cycle, start again at Week 1. You should increase the base mileage by 10-15%.
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