Coach as First Responder When a Young Athlete Gets Injured
As coaches we are not meant to be sports medicine experts and we shouldn’t overstep our credentials. But, let’s face it; we’re our athletes’ first responders. When they go down on the field, the referee signals for us to come on and check out their condition. This is a unique privilege – just ask any […]
Save the Knees: Beating ACL Injuries with Prevention
On July 10, 2011, Ali Krieger pounded home the penalty kick that advanced the U.S. Women’s National Team past Marta and the Brazilians in the 2011 Women’s World Cup quarterfinals. Remember? We couldn’t stop watching the replays. Now, it’s 2012 and time for Olympic gold, but where is Ali? Out with an ACL, an anterior […]
Concussion Conundrum: Referees’ Role In Preventing Head Injuries
Everyone agrees: We don’t want our young players suffering concussions. The difficulty comes in figuring out how to minimize them. There is a lot to this conversation; I only just scratched the surface in a two-part article. In the first, we looked at the nature of the injury and in the second, how to return […]
Strengthening Our Girls Against Concussions, Three Simple Ways to Build Neck and Core Strength While Keeping it Fun
Concussions are rampant in youth soccer, especially with our girls. We know what symptoms to look for. We have taught them proper technique. But girls need to be physically stronger in the challenge in order to protect themselves from injury. Check out the Fit2Finish video for three ways to strengthen your players that are simple, effective, and […]
Concussion in Youth Sports Part I: A Shaking of the Brain with Serious Consequences
The kid is everywhere. She’s taking command of the midfield and dictating play. Balls in the air. Balls on the ground. Nothing gets past her. She camps under another punt, and tenses, ready to send it forward. She goes up for the ball, but so does their striker. Heads, elbows and ball collide. Both girls […]
Thank you, Vienna Youth Soccer Striker Parents
Author’s note: I just finished six weeks working with the Vienna Youth Soccer (VYS) Strikers, 3 teams of U14 girls soccer players who compete in WAGS and ODSL. They are professionally trained by Gerardo Ramirez, Elise Fasick and Andon Tsarev. They invited Fit2Finish to introduce soccer-specific fitness and injury prevention. Dear Striker Parents, You have a […]
Soccer Stretch: Dynamic Before, Static After
I get this question a lot: should they stretch? YES Follow up question: when and how? Before and after. Here’s how. Before practice they should perform a dynamic warm up, moving the body parts to be used in a controlled and increasingly intense manner. That means: forward, backward, at angles, in rotations, at increasing pace […]
Good Coaches Make Youth Sports Healthy
“Youth sports is out of control! We need to go back to the good ole days when everyone played for fun in their neighborhoods!” The old days were good, but they’re gone. Now, issues of safety, distance, parental work schedules, and availability of playing areas make neighborhood games something of a relic. And, I’m sorry. Fantasy […]
Fit2Finish Will Present ‘Fit to the Final Whistle’ at the VYSA Conference Feb. 3/4
Fit2Finish will be presenting Fit to the Final Whistle to coaches, trainers and athletes at the Virginia Youth Soccer Association Convention in Richmond on February 3 and 4. Coaches want their athletes to stay strong and execute their game plan all the way to overtime – if necessary. But finding time during practice to add conditioning is […]
Interval Train to use Recovery as a Training Tool
Recovery. Every athlete needs it. Suzy Germain says it’s missing from her son’s topnotch team and that’s taking a toll. Wayne Goldsmith, in his January 4th blog post, has a great mnemonic to help us think about how recovery – that is, time off from sport-specific conditioning and training – re-charges the elite athlete so he can go […]