Soccer coach says, "Cross country running ruins explosiveness"

toot toot wrote:

it does ruin explosiveness. no doubt about it.

you cant ruin anyones explosiveness doing high school mileage (35-40) a week. Most high school xc programs live off of 400s anyway. They would be fine...

You are correct. Typo on my part "cannot" ---> "can".

I don't think that XC ruins explosiveness to such an extent that a kid who WANTS to run XC and play soccer should not do both. At the same time, I don't think that XC is such great training for soccer that a kid who is not interested in XC should run as preparation for soccer season. If a soccer player wants to run XC, the soccer coach probably shouldn't stop him. As an XC coach, I wouldn't try to convince a soccer player who wasn't otherwise interested to run as preparation for soccer season. Sport specific training will always be better and I'm sure that over the years soccer has developed good off season training that is specific to the sport.

Bear of Bad News wrote:

I'm sure that over the years soccer has developed good off season training that is specific to the sport.

yes, it's called 'running'

If I were a soccer coach I would prefer my athletes to play club soccer in the offseason rather than XC, and just have them do some running on their own as well.[/quote]

My AD was also the basketball ball coach and asked me if I wouldn't mind his basketball players coming out for cross country. I told him as long as he and they knew that they were expected to train with everyone the same. I aske him why he decided to let them run cross he told me one year he was in a tourny and a team with six players ran his team of twelve into the ground. After the game he asked the coach how he got them in shape and the coach told him that any of his athletes that did not do a fall sport, football or waterpolo, had to run cross and five of his players ran cross and one played football. By the way none of his players ended up running cross he trained them himself. One day he showed me his workouts and everyday it was something very fast (for them) on the track with no recovery days. When I tried to tell him he needed some ez long stuff everyother day and I compared it to lifting weights taking a rest day in between, he told me no we lift everyday, full body. Oh well what do distance coaches know.

Your percentage of Type I and II muscle fibers NEVER change. The only thing that changes is how efficiently that type of fiber utilizes energy. If soccer is that kid's sport, you will never change that. Only they can change their mind. The kids should play the sport they are best at, and playing soccer will ALWAYS improve someone's soccer ability over cross-country. I am a cross-country coach and I would love good athletes on my team, but if they would rather be somewhere else, do you want them running for you?

Your percentage of Type I and II muscle fibers NEVER change. The only thing that changes is how efficiently that type of fiber utilizes energy.

Bear of Bad News wrote:

I'm sure that over the years soccer has developed good off season training that is specific to the sport.

agip wrote:

yes, it's called 'running'

I'm sure that good soccer training includes running. I'm also sure that optimal off season soccer training does not consist of 50+ miles per week of running and nothing else.

I played year round soccer from 4th grade through sophomore year of high school (JV team captain, but not dominant). Then I joined my school's indoor team (mid-D) on my coaches orders so that I could contribute in varsity soccer (I was too small and slow). I ended up staying with running (XC and distance). My senior year my XC team scrimmaged our JV soccer team and I cleaned them up (4 assists 2 goals) and dominated the midfield.

In the end, I've become much more explosive and have much more endurance than I used to be. I've lost a small amount of touch and agility.

I think the big reason that XC and track are better off-seasons than club is that most soccer coaches don't have a clue how to train explosiveness or endurance. Plus, they don't engender the same sense of responsibility towards your performance: I would never have thought to weight lift, run, and do agility drills on my own, while I was doing club soccer 4 days a week. The only thing I'd ever work on, on my own, was my touch.

Hey Soccer coach,

Soccer has caused more injuries than all sports combined. FYI, Soccer players are great because they are runners. The stop, wait, go, stop, wait go...it wreaks damage on kids. Bottom line, line the cross-country runners up agasinstt he soccer players and they will out perform, out distance, and out work the soccer players. What a ridiculous sport!

Common Soccer Injuries Include:

Ankle Sprains

The most common of all ankle injuries, an ankle sprain occurs when there is a stretching and tearing of ligaments surrounding the ankle joint.

Achilles Tendonitis

Achilles tendonitis is a chronic injury that occurs primarily from overuse and it felt as pain in back of the ankle. If this is ignored it may increase your risk of Achilles Tendon Rupture.

Concussion

A concussion occurs with a sudden impact or blow to the head.

Groin Pull

A groin (adductor) pull or strain occurs when the muscles of the inner thigh are stretched beyond their limits.

Hamstring Pull, Tear, or Strain

Hamstring injuries are common among runners and can range from minor strains to total rupture of the muscle at the back of the thigh.

Iliotibial Band Syndrome

IT band friction syndrome often results in knee pain that is generally felt on the outside (lateral) aspect of the knee or lower.

Muscle Cramps

A cramp is a sudden, intense pain caused by a muscle involuntary and forcibly contracting muscle that does not relax. Similar to, but not the same as a Side Stitch.

Blisters

Blisters are fluid-filled sacks on the surface of the skin that commonly occurs on the hands, or the feet.

Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness

Also called "DOMS," this muscle pain, stiffness or soreness occurs 24-48 hours after particularly intense exercise or a new program.

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

This term usually refers to pain under and around the knee cap It is also called "Runner's Knee."

Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of pain on the bottom of the heel and usually defined by pain during the first steps of the morning

Pulled or Strained Calf Muscle

calf strain occurs when part of the muscles of the lower leg (gastrocnemius or soleus) are pulled from the Achilles tendon. It is similar to an Achilles tendon rupture, but occurs higher up in the back of the leg.

Shin Splints

Shin Splints describes a variety of generalized pain that occurs in the front of the lower leg along the tibia (shin bone). Shin Splints are considered a cumulative stress injury.

Sprains and Strains

These are acute injuries that vary in severity but usually result in pain, swelling, bruising, and loss of the ability to move and use the joint.

Stress Fractures

Stress fractures in the leg are often the result of overuse or repeated impacts on a hard surface

Tendinitis and Ruptured Tendon

Tendinitis is simply inflammation of a tendon. It generally occurs from overuse, but can also occur from a forceful contraction that causes microtears in the muscle fibers. These tears can lead to weakness and inflammation.

Knee Injuries Common in Soccer Players

•Anterior Cruciate Lligament (ACL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries

•Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL) injuries

Ligament injuries to the knee are very common in sports that require stopping and starting or quickly changing directions.

Cruciate ligament injuries don't always cause pain, but typically cause a loud "pop." Most of these injuries are confirmed with an MRI. Arthroscopic surgery is sometimes the best way to find a partial tear.

Torn Knee Cartilage (Meniscus Injuries)

Torn knee cartilage is usually a torn meniscus. These small, "c" shaped pieces of cartilage act as cushions between the thigh bone (femur) and the tibia (shin bone). Meniscus tears are often the result of twisting, pivoting, decelerating, or a sudden impact. It cam be identified by various manual tests a physician can perform to detect torn cartilage.

dumbass wrote:

Hey Soccer coach,

Soccer has caused more injuries than all sports combined.

Can you cite a source for this, or did you just make it up?

coaches in nearly any sport try to hold on to their athletes by any means necessary

used to have ice hockey coaches tell kids that roller would ruin their game despite some of the best young NHL players in the game coming out of the sport

if they don't have the kid 52/24/7 its just not good enough for them...

you know wrote:

A few years ago, I had a whinny group of "sprinters" made up of soccer and football kids who thought they were pretty hot stuff and argued with my training constantly. At a small, midweek meet I loaded a up two 4x200s. One made up of the lazy, whinny football/soccer kids, the other with my #1, #3, #4, and #5 runners from cross country. Guess who got their asses kicked?

XC doesn't ruin speed or exposiveness. All of my school record holders in 400m (boys and girls) ran cross country the year they set their records.

2x4x200m isn't a workout where sprinters will be their strongest. That's like a speed endurance workout. It's not for explosiveness at all.

You should have waited a few days after and had them all do one set of 4x200m with full recovery (10-12 minutes). If your distance kids can beat the sprinters in that workout, then you could brag.

easy pace wrote:

2x4x200m isn't a workout where sprinters will be their strongest. That's like a speed endurance workout. It's not for explosiveness at all.

You should have waited a few days after and had them all do one set of 4x200m with full recovery (10-12 minutes). If your distance kids can beat the sprinters in that workout, then you could brag.

Read his post again. Does it make any sense that the coach would be having them do a 2x4x200 workout at a meet? He is quite obviously talking about entering two teams in a 4x200 RELAY RACE.

Have you considered offering a compromise? "Let your players train with me 3-4 days/week and go to meets -- the other days they can do your training" or "They may do additional training for soccer as long as they come to every practice" or something?

Does this theory apply to football players as well? I'm a CC coach at a SMALL town in the south that eats and breathes football(even though we struggle to finish higher than dead last in the district every year). The head football coach will not "let" the football players run cross country. He says they will be too worn out for football practice, they will lose "size", and it will make them slow...... Keep in mind the football kids would get in only 20-30 miles a week with a heavy emphasis on hills and drills..... IS he right?

The practice, meet, and game times did not interfere with each other. Doing both would have been tiring, but easily doable. I had even told the athletes that would could take the day of their soccer practice very easy so that it would not take away from their primary sport.

In my case, there were several girls who truly wanted to do cross country (they told me and told their friends) but were convinced not to by their club coach.

Oddly, the club coach is not their school coach. The high school coach welcomed me to their practice to speak with the girls and even backed me up with my reasons for them to run. She told me which girls to "recruit". She felt that too many of them did "nothing" in the offseason. In her opinion, club soccer did little for the girls because of how infrequently they met, it was fall season only, and it was with many athletes from other schools. These girls would travel 45-60 minutes for their club practice, which I can't imagine parents enjoying too much.

Tell him soccer ruins knees and there is more evidence of that than his theory.

Soccer Players are a true mix of power and endurance.

Professional soccer players "run" on average about 5 to 8(more depending on position) kms per game!

This consists of a mix of walking, jogging, all out sprinting (not to mention getting kicked and pushed quite a bit).

For this the "perfect" body for soccer is one of explosive power and aerobic fitness ... hence muscle mass is REQUIRED.

XC running and associated training does not perfectly fit a soccer player. Running distances at conversational pace greater than 5km 3x a week will reduce muscle mass.

XC runners = wimpy :)

SOCCER players = tough :P