A Mental Warm-Up for Athletes

The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate a 5-min structured mental warm-up involving aspects of goal setting, imagery, arousal regulation, and positive self-talk. Results of a study that featured a pretest–posttest design with 101 male youth soccer players (Study 1) and a study that featured a repeated-measures experimental design with 29 female intercollegiate soccer players (Study 2) indicated that executing the mental warm-up was associated with significantly greater readiness to perform and to use mental skills to enhance performance. In Study 3, 30 male high school soccer players used the mental warm-up daily over a competitive season and rated it as acceptable (albeit less so than their physical warm-up) at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the season. The findings suggest that a mental warm-up is both acceptable to athletes and potentially useful in helping them prepare for training and competition.

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Caffeine Supplementation and Reactive Agility in Elite Youth Soccer Players

Pediatric Exercise Science ◽

10.1123/pes.2013-0134 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 168-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

J. Bradley Jordan ◽

Ajit Korgaokar ◽

Richard S. Farley ◽

John M. Coons ◽

Jennifer L. Caputo

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Perceived Exertion ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Ratings Of Perceived Exertion ◽

Double Blind ◽

Male Youth ◽

Warm Up ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Repeated Measures Design ◽

Reactive Agility

This study examined the effects of caffeine supplementation (6 mg·kg−1) on performance of a reactive agility test (RAT) in 17 elite, male, youth (M = 14 y) soccer players. Using a double-blind, repeated-measures design, players completed 4 days of testing on the RAT after a standardized warm-up. On day 1, anthropometric measurements were taken and players were accommodated to the RAT. On day 2, baseline performance was established. Caffeine or placebo conditions were randomly assigned on day 3 and the condition was reversed on day 4. Players completed 3 randomized trials of the RAT on days 2, 3, and 4 with at least 1 trial to the players’ dominant and nondominant sides. There were no significant differences among conditions in reaction time (RT) to the dominant side, heart rates at any point of measurement, or ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) after completion of the warm-up. Caffeine produced faster RT to the nondominant side (P = .041) and higher RPE at the conclusion of the RAT (P = .013). The effect on the total time (TT) to complete the agility test to the nondominant side approached significance (P = .051). Sprint time and TT to either side did not differ. Caffeine supplementation may provide ergogenic benefit to elite, male, youth soccer players.

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Effect of the FIFA 11+ on Landing Patterns and Baseline Movement Errors in Elite Male Youth Soccer Players

Journal of Sport Rehabilitation ◽

10.1123/jsr.2018-0374 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (6) ◽

pp. 730-737 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hadi Akbari ◽

Mansour Sahebozamani ◽

Ablolhamid Daneshjoo ◽

Mohammadtaghi Amiri-Khorasani ◽

Yohei Shimokochi

Keyword(s):

Anterior Cruciate Ligament ◽

Cruciate Ligament ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Control Group ◽

Ligament Injuries ◽

Male Youth ◽

Warm Up ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries ◽

Anterior Cruciate

Context: There is no evidence regarding the effect of the FIFA 11+ on landing kinematics in male soccer players, and few studies exist regarding the evaluating progress of interventions based on the initial biomechanical profile. Objective: To investigate the effect of the FIFA 11+ program on landing patterns in soccer players classified as at low or high risk for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Field-based functional movement screening performed at the soccer field. Participants: A total of 24 elite male youth soccer players participated in this study. Intervention: The intervention group performed the FIFA 11+ program 3 times per week for 8 weeks, whereas the control group performed their regular warm-up program. Main Outcome Measures: Before and after the intervention, all participants were assessed for landing mechanics using the Landing Error Scoring System. Pretraining Landing Error Scoring System scores were used to determine risk groups. Results: The FIFA 11+ group had greater improvement than the control group in terms of improving the landing pattern; there was a significant intergroup difference (F1,20 = 28.86, P < .001, ). Soccer players categorized as being at high risk displayed greater improvement from the FIFA 11+ program than those at low risk (P = .03). However, there was no significant difference in the proportion of risk category following the routine warm-up program (P = 1.000). Conclusions: The present study provides evidence of the usefulness of the FIFA 11+ program for reducing risk factors associated with noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries. The authors’ results also suggest that soccer players with the higher risk profile would benefit more than those with lower risk profiles and that targeting them may improve the efficacy of the FIFA 11+ program.

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Between-Session Reliability of Isometric Midthigh Pull Kinetics and Maximal Power Clean Performance in Male Youth Soccer Players

The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research ◽

10.1519/jsc.0000000000001830 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 32 (12) ◽

pp. 3364-3372 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Thomas Dos'Santos ◽

Christopher Thomas ◽

Paul Comfort ◽

John J. McMahon ◽

Paul A. Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soccer Players ◽

Maximal Power ◽

Male Youth ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Power Clean

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Reliability, validity, and maturation-related differences of frontal and sagittal plane landing kinematic measures during drop jump and tuck jump screening tests in male youth soccer players

Physical Therapy in Sport ◽

10.1016/j.ptsp.2021.05.009 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Francisco Javier Robles-Palazón ◽

Iñaki Ruiz-Pérez ◽

Jon L. Oliver ◽

Francisco Ayala ◽

Pilar Sainz de Baranda

Keyword(s):

Sagittal Plane ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Screening Tests ◽

Drop Jump ◽

Male Youth ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Kinematic Measures

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Sleep Indices and Cardiac Autonomic Activity Responses during an International Tournament in a Youth National Soccer Team

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18042076 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 2076

Author(s):

Pedro Figueiredo ◽

Júlio Costa ◽

Michele Lastella ◽

João Morais ◽

João Brito

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Frequency Domain ◽

Sleep Duration ◽

Time Domain ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Autonomic Activity ◽

Male Youth ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Wrist Actigraphy ◽

Cardiac Autonomic Activity

This study aimed to describe habitual sleep and nocturnal cardiac autonomic activity (CAA), and their relationship with training/match load in male youth soccer players during an international tournament. Eighteen elite male youth soccer players (aged 14.8 ± 0.3 years; mean ± SD) participated in the study. Sleep indices were measured using wrist actigraphy, and heart rate (HR) monitors were used to measure CAA during night-sleep throughout 5 consecutive days. Training and match loads were characterized using the session-rating of perceived exertion (s-RPE). During the five nights 8 to 17 players slept less than <8 h and only one to two players had a sleep efficiency <75%. Players’ sleep duration coefficient of variation (CV) ranged between 4 and 17%. Nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV) indices for the time-domain analyses ranged from 3.8 (95% confidence interval, 3.6; 4.0) to 4.1 ln[ms] (3.9; 4.3) and for the frequency-domain analyses ranged from 5.9 (5.6; 6.5) to 6.6 (6.3; 7.4). Time-domain HRV CV ranged from 3 to 10% and frequency-domain HRV ranged from 2 to 12%. A moderate within-subjects correlation was found between s-RPE and sleep duration [r = −0.41 (−0.62; −0.14); p = 0.003]. The present findings suggest that youth soccer players slept less than the recommended during the international tournament, and sleep duration was negatively associated with training/match load.

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Effects of a conventional versus an alternative therapy program in male youth soccer players with jumper’s knee

http://isrctn.com/ ◽

10.1186/isrctn15532235 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marc Niering

Keyword(s):

Alternative Therapy ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Jumper’S Knee ◽

Male Youth ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Therapy Program

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Effect of cluster set warm-up configurations on sprint performance in collegiate male soccer players

Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism ◽

10.1139/apnm-2017-0610 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 43 (6) ◽

pp. 625-630 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Brett S. Nickerson ◽

Gerald T. Mangine ◽

Tyler D. Williams ◽

Ismael A. Martinez

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Sprint Performance ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Strength And Conditioning ◽

Warm Up ◽

Back Squat ◽

Cluster Set ◽

Rest Periods ◽

Single Cluster ◽

Traditional Manner

The purpose of this study was to determine if back squat cluster sets (CS) with varying inter-repetition rest periods would potentiate greater sprint performance compared with a traditional set parallel back squat in collegiate soccer players. Twelve collegiate male soccer players (age, 21.0 ± 2.0 years; height, 180.0 ± 9.0 cm; body mass, 79.0 ± 9.5 kg) performed a 20-m sprint prior to a potentiation complex and at 1, 4, 7, and 10 min postexercise on 3 separate, randomized occasions. On each occasion, the potentiation complex consisted of 1 set of 3 repetitions at 85% 1-repetition maximum (1RM) for the traditional parallel back squat. However, on 1 occasion the 3-repetition set was performed in a traditional manner (i.e., continuously), whereas on the other 2 occasions, 30s (CS30) and 60 s (CS60) of rest were allotted between each repetition. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed greater (p = 0.022) mean barbell velocity on CS60 compared with the traditional set. However, faster (p < 0.040) 20-m sprint times were observed for CS30 (3.15 ± 0.16 s) compared with traditional (3.20 ± 0.17 s) only at 10 min postexercise. No other differences were observed. These data suggest that a single cluster set of 3 repetitions with 30-s inter-repetition rest periods at 85% 1RM acutely improves 20-m sprinting performance. Strength and conditioning professionals and their athletes might consider its inclusion during the specific warm-up to acutely improve athletic performance during the onset (≤10 min) of training or competition.

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