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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Karl[/i] [br] How far do you run during a soccer game? By Don Kirkendall, Ph. D. Active.com January 12, 2001 As a young player, I once asked how far a soccer player ran during a game. This guy from 'the old country' said 10 miles. So I divided 10 miles by 90 minutes. To cover 10 miles would require a constant running pace of almost 7mph and I knew intuitively that 10 miles couldn't be correct. Knowing how, and how far, a player runs is important in designing training programs ? and determining how far a player runs is very difficult. First you have to videotape a game with a camera that doesn't follow the ball. Then play it back while you focus on one player, recording every movement they make while estimating the pace and distance they run. Then rewind and do it all over again for the next player. Labor and time intensive is an understatement for these projects. The first time-motion study over a full season was done on Everton FC (Liverpool, England) in the mid 1970's and the estimated distance covered was just under 8,800 meters. Movement speeds were walking, jogging, cruising ('running with manifest purpose and effort'), sprinting and backing. About 2/3 of the distance was covered at the low intensities of walking and jogging and around 800 meters sprinting in numerous short 10-40m bursts. A player was in control of the ball for an average of 200 meters for a whopping total of 90 seconds (that means you spend 88.5 minutes trying to get or keep someone from getting the ball). Recording every change of speed and direction showed that there was some change in activity every 5-6 seconds. Subsequent work and maturation of the game has pushed this total distance up to around 10,000 meters for a men's professional European game with the South American game being contested at a little less total running distance. Midfielders run the most, central strikers and defenders the least. Don't brag too much about the running volume ? 10,000 m (6 miles) in 90 minutes is 4 mph, something a good power walker can do. The physiological intensity of the game can be estimated one of those heart monitors you see joggers and cyclists wearing. The average heart rate for the full 90 minutes ranges between 150-170 beats per minute with very high values while sprinting and more moderate values when less involved in the game. I remember charting one women's national team member who averaged 185-190 beats per minute ? for the whole game! One interesting observation that doesn't take an "A" license to figure out: the most physically intense part of the game is while in control of the ball. Your pulse rate goes up and lactic acid production (that heavy feeling in your legs you perceive after sprinting) increases. This is a primary reason why coaches sets up lots of small sided games that force players to be 'on the ball' far more often than during 11 v 11. Thankfully, there are some newer methods being used now to make data collection less demanding. Currently, we are using the global positioning system to track players during games/training. They wear a cell phone size receiver and GPS satellite signals are stored every 2 seconds. A little geometry is all that is needed to solve the total distance run. We did some spring games on the women of the local university and pro teams here in the Raleigh area. The average running distance was just over 8,500 meters, but one highly competitive game (UNC vs. Raleigh Wings professionals) had a couple women over 10,000 meters for the game. Generally, the women's game is a little less running and at a slower pace (about 75% of the women's game is at a walk/jog), but when conditions demand it, the women can cover just as much distance as the men. And, realize that women have a smaller capacity, so when they cover the same distance as men ? playing the same game on the same field for the same time as men, they are working harder remember that woman's heart rate I mentioned earlier. Now that we know some details about the game, the focus of training begins to become clearer. The other pieces in the training puzzle are game tactics. Your homework assignment: in a typical possession by a team, how many players and how many passes are involved? If you want to increase your team's chance of shooting for goal, what should your team do? Dr. Don Kirkendall is one of the foremost soccer doctors in the country. He is a professor at the University of North Carolina and works extensively with its women's soccer program. He is a member of the US Soccer Federation sports medicine committee and is currently working with the WUSA, the new women's pro league. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.