Just how good are soccer players at running?

Hendrik Ramaala was a soccer player before turning to track and road running.

I did both soccer and track at a D1 school. I wouldnt say I was great at either (3:51, 1:51--about the same ability wise in soccer). The two kinds of fitness certainly dont transfer from one sport to another. There have been times when I have been in great track shape and after 30 minutes of a soccer game I have been done. At the same time I have only met one soccer player who could stay with me on any of my non-easy runs (although, he is Moroccan). I think it mainly has to do with the kind of fitness that soccer coaches work on. I personally think they have it all wrong...no base, just sprints all year round. I think some of the soccer players could be good runners, but arent trained for it. Think this post might have been almost as confusing as the original, but its 1:45 in the morning. Hope this helps

Aouita was a good junior soccer player and did a 3km time trial as part of soccer training, did an awesome time and switched to track. The rest is history!!

Same with Moses Kiptanui - he was discovered on the soccer pitch.

Cheers

Ryan Bak was a soccer player and went equivalent of sub 4 and 13:38(?). I think he only ran a couple years in HS.

Supposedly Denis Wise used to do a 25 minute 5 mile tempo on the grass in London every week during the summer to keep fit for the long premiership season?

beckham was reputed to be quite good at running as a child (considering that he probably didn't train) and has run some pretty impressive distances within a game. Steve Mcmananman (Liverpool, Real Madrid, England) was also handy and reputedly raced against a young curtis robb although I don't know whether he beat him or not.

couple stories that will settle nothing -

had a high school teammate (andrew lewis) who was all-american

in soccer and went on to play pro soccer for a number of years. he came out for our DMR in high school and off of pure soccer training, just running meets for us, ran 1:58 and 50-point in the quarter.

had he concentrated on running i have no doubt he would have been at the very least national class in that.

second - my uncle was also a professional soccer coach for most of his career in belgium. pretty much a mid-tier soccer country now. i got to see his guys practice all the time, and the speed and explosiveness of some of his players (particularly the few africans they had) was breathtaking. no doubt, had they wanted to, they would have excelled at the half or the mile.

but why would they? esp. overseas, the soccer players are revered, and they make a ton more money than they ever would on the track/roads. even here in the US, you can play in this obscure pro league called the A-league, as my buddy did, and make more money than 98% of the us guys who are running.

cl

Paul Evans, 1996 Chicago winner, was a soccer flunky from England.

IN 1998 my HS has a 4x400 relay run 3:17. 4 white guys. 3 of them played soccer in fall and winter. Only one ever an XC race. Same year also had a 7:51 4x800, with 2/4 guys being soccr players. Including the 1:51 anchor (also anchored the 4x400 in 47.)

bekele was a footballer

Maria Mutola was a good football player until she was noticed for her running skills on the pitch, and converted to track.

viren, lasse wrote:

bekele was a footballer

No, he wasn't. I have never heard this before. I have read on multiple occassions that Bekele took up running at a young age being inspired by former Eth. greats. Bekele may have played a little at some point, but as far as being a serious player, no.

My brother was a pretty good soccer player back in his day at one of the MCC schools in St. Louis, but as a better runner. He played soccer through his junior year, which consequently was his best running year (4th state cross country). Senior year he didn't play soccer, but also didn't do well running either. I think he was burned out.

Although he was an above average soccer player, he found much more success running.

Galen Rupp was a decent soccer player before Salazar "converted" him.

The 4A girls winner at the Oregon State Meet (Kimber Mattox) in 2004 also started on a pretty good HS soccer team in the same season(fall of 2004).

In the same weekend, she won the state XC meet by 29 seconds, and played in two state tournament games as a midfielder (1st round win, 2nd round loss).

She is a junior now, and I didn't see her in any XC results....not sure what happened to her.

I Colorado, I have noticed that most of the great girl xc runners are soccer players. A few names off the bat - the Kaltenbach sisters- both played soccer first and were good at it. Molly Palmer won state in 2004. McDowell sisters, both multiple state champions, older sister was national HS soccer player of the year. Generally I beleive that in any given year take the top 10 girls at state XC and 5 of them were soccer players that played on high level club teams.

However, when it comes to boys, any of the studs in XC or track were pure runners, not both. Many played soccer in their youth but do not play in HS, or if they do are not great in both sports.

Some more food for thought that solves or porves nothing

Rupp played Soccer first.

In high school one of our best strikers on the soccer team was a 47 point 400 meter runner and also good at the 100 and 200. A guy from another school in town played soccer through half of high school then went out for track and ran 1:57 after only about a year of running. One of our best all-around soccer players from our team came out for track his senior year and ran 1:57 800 after having never really run the 800 before. I could probably go on with more.

Just to clarify, when I said the guys came out for track, I mean they were still playing soccer and that was their main sport. If they would've concentrated on running I know they would've ran much faster.

I would say that soccer, because it is a sport of continuous movement can produce highly conditioned athletes. A great soccer player is both well-conditioned and has a skill set (ball handling, analysis of player positioning, etc.) that makes him great. That skill set is meaningless in running, the conditioning is key. If we take Lydiard's theories which propose gradual, but continual growth in fitness levels, long-time soccer players, esp. those who may play for hours on end in practice will likely have an excellent aerobic base.

So, while a good runner may, by virtue of good conditioning be an OK soccer player, if he lacks the skill set, he will be no better than OK. A mediocre runner with an excellent skill set for soccer can be a great player. By its stop and go nature, the conditioning level required of soccer players is a bit less than that of an excellent runner (not that some soccer players don't achieve that conditioning level). Simply put, the two sports require some, but not all, of the same requirements, thus, you can't assume that a good soccer player will make a good runner and vice versa.