Ever wondered how many hours does a youth professional soccer player train? Although you don’t need a professional soccer academy to become a professional soccer player, it can form the basis for success. You can use this format to get an idea of how many hours are spent learning the skills and conditioning making it on a professional level. An average week for a 17-year-old soccer player spends about 6 hours of practice exclusive of game time. These 6 hours are divided into the warm-up, plyometrics, technical and tactical, speed training, small-sided games, and normal games. Let’s have a look day by day
A Normal Week
Monday
- Warm-up for 20 minutes consisting of walking/jogging/and dribbling
- Plyometrics consisting of
4 * 5 drop jumps from 60 cm height followed by a subsequent jump over 2 obstacles (15 cm height)
4 * 6 horizontal jumps plus 4 * 6 jumps over obstacles (15 cm height)
- Followed by change of directions and sprint training (3 sets of 3 short shuttle run with 4 changes of directions each.
- Technical and tactical training these can consist of first touch/ positioning / ball control/ 1 vs 1
- And 15 minutes of game play
Tuesday
- Morning
- Strength training and injury prevention
Concentrated on stability and strength. Including squats deadlift plank and balance exercises.
Afternoon
- Warm up for 15 minutes consisting of walking/jogging/and dribbling
- 25 min Technical and tactical training these can consist of first touch/ positioning / ball control/ 1 vs 1
- Game Play 25 minutes
- Moderate –intensity aerobic training or small sided games 20 minutes
Wednesday
- Warm up 15 minutes consisting of walking/jogging/and dribbling
- Plyometric (optional) 20 minutes
4 * 5 drop jumps from 60 cm height followed by a subsequent jump over 2 obstacles (15 cm height)
4 * 6 horizontal jumps plus 4 * 6 jumps over obstacles (15 cm height)
- Followed by change of directions and sprint training (3 sets of 3 short shuttle run with 4 changes of directions each.
- Technical/tactical 25 minutes these can consist of first touch/ positioning / ball control/ 1 vs 1
- Game Play 25 min
- Moderate-intensity aerobic training or small sided games 20 min
Thursday
- Warm-up 15 min
- Speed training (long and short) 15 minutes
- Technical/tactical 25 minutes
- Play 15 minutes
Friday day off
Saturday game
- 2 times 35 minutes
Sunday day off
Why Is There An Option vs 1 or 2 plyometric sessions?
A recent study looked into performing 1 or 2 plyometric sessions a week for 8 weeks. One group performed 1 plyometric session a week, while another group performed 2 plyometrics a week. After 8 weeks the results showed that not only both groups improved in speed jumps and turns, the group that performed only 1 plyometric a week showed slightly better improvements.
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