Do you know what it takes?
Talent, desire, and unforeseen factors aside, becoming a professional football player requires a ruthless amount of discipline and hard work. Yasmine El-Rashidi takes a look at the basic needs of any football fitness programme
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The facade of the pro tour is one of fame and fortune. Behind it, however, is the reality of brutal training and a hectic lifestyle
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Whether in sports, on the stage, or even in the literary arena, we have all at some point in our lives submerged into the magical world of our imaginations and envisioned we were before a gathering of devoted fans. For me it was a daily occurrence. Every morning, on the clay courts of my neighbourhood sporting club, I would imagine I was on the centre court of Wimbeldon. I would run, slide, and serve as if it was championship point, and for every game I would mentally take, I would hear, see, feel, the support of the crowd. The only person there on those school day mornings well before the city was awake, was my father.
I visualised to stay focussed, because it was that dream of fame and recognition that kept me going through the solitary hours of training. Perhaps it was my downfall -- that glory, in reality, is transient -- the reflection of just a fraction of a professional athlete's career.
"People only look at the high side of things -- the fame, the prize money, the clamouring fans. That's the only thing the media focusses on," writes sports writer Jeff Williams in The Media and the Pros. "And that is what people buy into. To the public, that is what the pro tour is. We seldom hear about the grueling training programs, the endless traveling, the airport transits, or the solitude. When you turn pro, it's like a marriage contract."
You and your sport, that is.
On hundreds of youth-geared Internet sports sites, the reality is emphasised: "Aside from the hours spent practicing each day and working on strength training, stamina and injury prevention, they also spend additional hours viewing films, critiquing their own performances and techniques and scouting their opponents tendencies and weaknesses," one site states. "Competition is intense and job security is precarious. Athletes train year-round to maintain excellent for, technique, and peak physical condition; very little downtime from the sport exists on the professional level. Athletes must also conform to regimented diets. They push their bodies to the limit, so career- ending injury is always a risk. Even minor injuries to an athlete may be sufficient opportunity for another athlete to play, excel, and become a permanent replacement." And it goes on.
While the 1960s and 1970s saw athletes turn "pro" in their 20s, the 1980s and 1990s introduced to the world the high-tech age super child -- the professional 13, 14, 15-year-olds.
"The face of professional sport has changed," Williams writes. "The requirements of fitness, nutrition and athletic abilities have been pushed up to a much higher level than twenty or thirty years ago."
Tennis superstar Martina Navratilova is known to be the classic example -- in her biography she talks openly of being an overweight 16-year-old professional gorging on burgers and ice- cream, paying little attention to her fitness and physique.
"You could get away with that then," she is quoted in her biography. "It was a very different time."
Navratilova went on to transform herself into the fittest female in the game, and perhaps in the sphere of professional sport, competing well into her 30s and amidst the new generation of pros.
"Young athletes need to recognise the standards of professional sports today," says fitness trainer Nasser Abdullah, who has coached national team athletes in numerous sports. "To become a professional tennis player of footballer, you have to make the decision from a very young age. From six or seven you need to already be training. By nine or 10 your mind must be set. If you wait till you're 15 or 16 and have had some fun, it's too late -- unless you're granted a miracle."
The physical requirements of professional sport -- any sport -- have become critical. Physical conditioning, like anything, requires practice to improve and persistence to perfect.
"To reach that level required by professionals, you need to start grooming your body from as early as possible," Abdullah says. "Of course though it's important to take into consideration the age group and the changes occurring in the body."
In children five to 10 years, for example, bones are still not fully developed -- they are soft -- and the joints are much more fragile. "At this age sports injuries to the long bones (epiphyseal plates), low back (L-4,5), and muscle injuries, are problematic," Dr Frederick C Hatfield writes in the International Sports Science Association's Complete Fitness Guide for Professionals, warning that resistance training in this age group should not include the use of heavy weights.
"A lot of the parents I deal with feel that it's important I take their children into the gym," Abdullah says. "Strength training is important, but to take the case of a young football player, for example, you can't take an eight or nine-year-old into the gym and put them on the machines. Gym equipment is designed for adults," he adds. Putting a child on a machine designed for adult proportions means forcing their body out of natural alignment.
"It's important to look at what exactly the young athlete needs," Abdullah says.
Those needs, in fitness training terms, are known as "sports specificity"; the specific training needs of athletes, that is, for their chosen sport.
"It's important for the players to be aware of what they need and how much work it takes, but it's also crucial that the parents understand too," Abdullah asserts.
Since the 1970s, physical conditioning has changed the face of football, transforming the game tactically and altering player-position requirements. Most defenders are required to attack down the wing, while forwards always check back to link up with the halfbacks. Match studies have revealed that an average field player in today's modern game runs about 10 kilometres per match, with some midfielders covering up to 15 kilometres.
Considering Egypt's world-class football players were scouted to the European clubs in their late teens, gearing up for that level of play needs to be outlined from early on.
To start with, of course, practice needs to be fun--filled with drills and games aimed to engage youngsters while simultaneously developing football-specific skills.
"It's a fine line between teaching a child to concentrate and be committed and putting expectation on them," Abdullah says. "You need to make the process of training enjoyable, and push them without them feeling they are being pushed. Set them up in mini-contests with their friends for example. At seven a young boy may say he wants to be a professional. You can tell by 10 the children that have it in them [to become pros] and have the necessary focus and drive and those who don't."
For those who do, it's important that parents point them in the right direction and fully recognise their training needs. It is also worth bearing in mind that the Under-17 FIFA championships hold no age restrictions -- the youngest player who ever competed was a remarkably talented and hard-working 14- year-old. There is no reason why your 13-year-old can't break that age record. To do that, however, takes serious work.
THE BASICS: A football training programme should encompass several basic things: The warm-up, endurance, plyometrics for football, diet and nutrition, and stretching.
THE WARM-UP: Preparing your body for football is often a process that is overlooked -- particularly at the lower levels of the game. In order to achieve optimum physiological readiness, numerous factors need to be considered. Before running onto the pitch, the body's cardio-vascular activity needs to be increased gradually. A 10-minute walk around the track will suffice for a start -- sending blood around the body to warm up the muscles, and catalysing the release of synovial fluid in the joints (this is how the joints absorb the shock created by jumping or running). Once the body has been given this initial warning that activity is to come, it should be built up into a 10- minute light jog (professionals take about 30mins).
Football requires frequent, sudden, changes in direction (ballistic movement). In technical terms, it is when a part of the body is thrown against the movement of antagonistic muscles -- a leading source of injury in the field. To prepare the body for this, dynamic or ballistic stretches (which involve moving a specific joint in full-range from one extreme to another) are key.
Before a game or match training session, a technical-specific warm-up is also important. Ideally, the technical warm-up should incorporate all four major areas of skill including kicking, dribbling, ball control and tackling.
FOOTBALL ENDURANCE: This equation includes speed, stamina and strength. Warming up the leg muscles in this process is crucial for both maximising training benefits and injury prevention. This can be done with one to two kilometres of running (on flat-land), done ahead of every sprinting of technique-based practice. The actual strengthening of the legs comes through running at an elevation, or on a sandy surface for one to two kilometres. To maintain and build endurance, runs of over three kilometres (four to eight), should be done at least two to three times per week.
A player's ability to sprint (speed) depends on three main factors: musculature, sprinting technique, and lung capacity. A player's speed is acquired mostly between the ages of 12 to 14. Sprinting technique is too often neglected in club programmes. When sprinting, it's important to keep arms parallel to the body and that ground contact is made first with the toes. To practice optimum "stride", take your young athlete out to the track and place a line of cones equal distance apart from each other and have him/her sprint next to them. Stride length should remain consistent, and unlike what we see often, arms should not be swung in front of the body -- it wastes energy.
Lung capacity can be enhanced by interval training (running on a given course altering between top speed sprinting and slow jogging). The development of leg power comes in the building of leg muscles, which enhances kicking, jumping and explosive speed (acceleration). A common misconception is that weightlifting will make the legs stronger and hence quicker. While building up the leg muscles will indeed increase power, the speed footballers need comes with speed drills:
EXPLOSIVE SPEED DRILL
Alter between sprints (three to 10 metres), and slow jogging (10 to 20 metres). Repeat 10-35 times to gain explosive speed.
TOP SPEED DRILL
Run while changing between long sprints (10 to 25 metres) and light jogging (20 to 50 metres). Repeat 10 to 30 times to improve your maximum speed.
PLYOMETRICS: While striving for World sports domination, during the Cold War, Soviet physiologists designed the plyometric training method which produced startling results in sports that required jumping and agility. The USSR and Eastern Bloc have been employing plyometric exercises since the 1960s, it wasn't until 15-20 years later that the Western World would even hear of them. Now, they are critical part of professional training programmes around the world.
From a mechanical point of view, the principle of this method is based on the fact that there are two types of muscle motion: concentric and eccentric. The process of shortening or tightening the muscle is known as concentric contraction, a classic example being jumping -- the legs are propelled upward, the muscle lengthening and hence the stretched feeling. Eccentric muscle contraction occurs as the body, or a particular part of it, decelerates. When an athlete's leg contacts the ground during running, his leg muscles contract eccentrically, shortening and absorbing the force generated by the inertia of his entire body.
Plyometrics exercises allow your muscles to respond more quickly and fully and are at the core of any football fitness programme. Most plyometric drills are made up of series of jumps. When executing them, one should strive for maximum "air time" and minimum ground contact:
DOUBLE HOP
Standing with both feet together, jump up as high as you can. While leaping, try to bring your knees up to the chest. Re- launch yourself as soon as you contact the ground.
AGILITY
Stand beside a soccer ball or cone and leap over it from one side to the other. Try to propel yourself as high as you can. Remember not to spread your feet apart and to leap momentarily each time you touch the ground.
FORWARD LEAP
Set up a line of cones, spaced according to your leaping ability. Start from one end, jumping from cone to cone with your feet together. Try landing near each cone while getting as much height as possible.
NUTRITIONAL NEEDS: "Weight" as such, is not as important a factor as most young athletes and their parents believe. What is more important is developing healthy eating habits and ensuring you give your body what it needs.
For a growing athlete, nutritional needs are high, with the balanced intake of carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice), protein (chicken, fish, meat) and fats (butter, oil) all being crucial to optimum health and athletic performance. Carbohydrates are the body's main source of fuel, proteins are the building blocks of muscles, and fats are critical to the transportation of numerous nutrients around the body. Working out the exact calorie and nutritional needs of an individual depends on several things -- weight, height, age, activity level, percentage body fat -- and requires the aid of a certified nutritionist. As a guideline, however, there are what are known as the "Basic rules of performance nutrition":
1-Always eat at least five times a day -- this keep metabolism up and energy level constant.
2-Meals should comprise (as a general guideline) of one part fats, two parts protein, and three parts carbohydrate.
3-When you sit down to eat, ask yourself 'what am I going to be doing for the next three hours?' If a strenuous training programme is coming up, then the meal should be slightly higher in carbohydrates (energy).
4- Take a multivitamin.
5- Drink eight-10 glasses of water per day.
6- Eliminate junk foods
STRETCHING: Probably the most misunderstood and misused element of any fitness programme -- in particular amongst coaches at lower-levels of the game. Too often we see youngsters being ordered to stretch prior to practice, "to warm up" the coaches say. Stretching, in reality, is a means to gain flexibility and increase your range of motion. It should never be performed on "cold muscles" -- an athlete should stretch after a workout when the body is warm.
Youngsters too often get bored while stretching and the routine comprises a tiny fraction of their training each day. Professional footballers, however, spend at least an hour a day stretching, and at times, even more.
All of the above serve merely as a guideline to the basic elements of a football fitness programme. Add to those football drills, matches, strategy sessions, and hours and hours of training each day, and you have a rough idea of what it means to groom a child into a pro.
"It's hard work," Abdullah laughs. "And it's not just about the hours of training. It's the expenses, the travelling, the psychological needs as well," he says. "Mental training is also crucial to success. I've had players who were talented, physically in superb shape, but mentally they would walk onto the court and collapse."
Parents, he warns, need to help their children recognise the harsh reality of the path to professionalism.
"You can't just give it 100 per cent, you have to give it 150," he says. "Because for every 100 per cent you are exerting, there is at least a handful of other children around the world who are exerting more. And every time you slack on the last 10 minutes of training because you're 'tired', a handful of other children around the world aren't."
And all those 10 minutes, of course, add up.
"The difference between an extraordinary player and an ordinary player is that little extra," legendary tennis star Arthur Ashe is quoted in his biography, "Extra discipline," he quotes, "makes up for a lack of talent, and a lack of discipline quickly siphons away extra talent. That's why it's frequently the most disciplined rather than the most gifted who rise to the top."
