Transferability: What it is, and Why it’s Important in Sport
In today’s post, I’d like to explain the concept of transferability and it’s importance in sport. Transferability generally describes how well skills in one area of life or work translate and impact another area of life or work. For example, communication or leadership are skills that generally transfer to all areas of life. In sport, transferability refers to how well your training translates and impacts your performance on the field. In other words, how well the drills and exercises you do off the field or at practice actually impact what happens on gameday. This is a great question for coaches to ponder when reflecting on their training programs, and is something that has dramatically influenced my philosophy and approach.
In today’s post, I’d like to explain the concept of transferability and it’s importance in sport. Transferability generally describes how well skills in one area of life or work translate and impact another area of life or work. For example, communication or leadership are skills that generally transfer to all areas of life. In sport, transferability refers to how well your training translates and impacts your performance on the field. In other words, how well the drills and exercises you do off the field or at practice actually impact what happens on gameday. This is a great question for coaches to ponder when reflecting on their training programs, and is something that has dramatically influenced my philosophy and approach.
This concept of transferability encompasses all facets of your holistic development program, from the practice field, to the weight room, and everything in between. To answer the aforementioned question, the factor coaches should analyze is whether or not what they do at practice or in the weight room actually looks like what their athletes are doing on the field. If the answer is no, then coaches must ask themselves why they are doing it. With this approach, coaches will be able to improve upon their programming, and eliminate the exercises that don’t actually impact the outcome of the game.
On the flip side, there are also plenty of exercises (particularly in the weight room), that at first glance may not necessarily look like what the athlete does on the field, but still translates to and positively impacts performance. This is because these exercises still mimic the demands of the game. For example, loaded plymotrics and Olympic lifts are not exercises that you will ever see occur in the run of play, however, these exercises develop power, which is a fundamental pillar of success in pretty much any team sport. Coaches must be able to identify how their programming actually translates to gameday, and logically explain why they are including that exercise within their programming.
On the practice field, this concept gets a little more gray. Soccer is notorious for running players through low-intensity repetitive technical exercises, beginning at a very early age. The problem with this approach is that while the skills being executed may occur in the game, they do not occur at the speed or intensity that the game demands, and are occurring without any involvement in decision making, meaning that they don’t actually look like what is occurring on the field. Repetition is great to build confidence, and pretty much anything has a place if implemented soundly and with good reasoning/intentions, however, it often doesn’t lead to the skills translating to the game when the whistle blows and bullets start flying.
So what’s the solution? How do we train soccer players in a systematic and organized way where they develop skills that will actually translate to the game? In the weight room or in your physical preparation, it comes down to understanding the physical demands of the sport, and making sure your training program prepares athletes to meet those demands. On the field, it means going against the norm, and reducing the time spent on low-intensity repetitive exercises. These exercises work great as a technical warmup, or for players to use on their own to develop their technique and confidence, however, in order for them to actually translate to the game, they have to be practiced at game speed.
When you do incorporate a traditional technical warmup, try to use it as a teaching tool. Rather than having players pass in a diamond, I like to make the warmup a little more functional, and have them pass in sequences that they may see on the field in an attempt to stimulate thought or ideas for when we progress past the technical warmup.
Lastly, “gamifying” the technical warmup (for example, using passing sequence relay race), will lead to an immediate improvement in transferability. Doing this still allows for players to get many touches on the ball to prepare for practice while simultaneously increasing their speed of play and staying mentally checked in.
With all that being said, if I do choose to go with a more traditional technical warmup, I make sure to limit it to no more than 10 minutes, because I do not want to waste valuable practice time doing something that doesn’t actually translate to the game.
So, in conclusion, coaches should begin to reflect on their practice design and programming to ensure that what they are spending time doing actually translates to the game. This means mimicking both the movements and demands of the sport, and practicing at a speed and in situations that will lead to better results on gameday.
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3 Strength Training Benefits for Soccer
Historically, strength training in professional soccer has been looked at as detrimental to performance. Aerobic fitness is king, and myths such as, “strength training makes you slower,” “strength training leads to injury,” and “I never strength trained and I had a successful career,” prevail across the culture in the professional world. While these are just myths, and the history of this issue deserves a blog post in it of itself, thankfully the professional level is slowly crawling out of the stone ages, and the benefits of this shift in mindset is trickling down to the high school and college levels. With that in mind, I wanted to share three benefits of strength training for soccer players, particularly at the high school, college, or even older middle-school level, as this is a prime time for development where strength training can be extremely advantageous.
Historically, strength training in professional soccer has been looked at as detrimental to performance. Aerobic fitness is king, and myths such as, “strength training makes you slower,” “strength training leads to injury,” and “I never strength trained and I had a successful career,” prevail across the culture in the professional world. While these are just myths, and the history of this issue deserves a blog post in it of itself, thankfully the professional level is slowly crawling out of the stone ages, and the benefits of this shift in mindset is trickling down to the high school and college levels. With that in mind, I wanted to share three benefits of strength training for soccer players, particularly at the high school, college, or even older middle-school level, as this is a prime time for development where strength training can be extremely advantageous.
Resiliency. No, I’m not talking about mental toughness. Philosophically, I don’t believe in using exercise as a way to build mental fortitude, as exercise should be used as a tool to spur physiological adaptation. One of the best adaptations strength training provides is an increased muscular resiliency, which leads to a decreased risk of injury. Think about it logically, when an athlete plays soccer (or any sport), he or she is putting his or her body under immense stress. A proper strength training program will slowly and progressively apply stress to prepare the body for the stresses that it will endure during play, and should eventually surpass those forces, leading to a substantially lower risk of injury.
Improved Movement. A proper strength training program will be built upon fundamental movement patterns, which will both teach athletes how to move properly, and also increase how smoothly/seamlessly they move; it becomes automatic. Consider how complex a sport like soccer is. Athletes are asked to jump, sprint, run, shuffle, jockey, dribble, shoot, pass, tackle, and cut (just to name a few), and are asked to do all of this across a 90 minute game while making the appropriate decisions, it’s pretty neurologically taxing. What a good strength program will do, is take the fundamental movements associated with those maneuvers, and practice them over and over again, to the point where those movements become automatic and no longer have to be thought about. Next time you are at a high school or college soccer game, observe which athletes are smooth and seamless with their movements, and which athletes are clumsy and clunky with their movements, I’d be willing to bet that one is practicing those movement patterns in a strength training program, and one is not.
Improved Performance. An athletic player and team will always have a competitive advantage against a less athletic player and team. Strength training is a core component to any holistic athletic development program. Beyond the aforementioned movement and resilient benefits, a proper strength training program will also develop muscle mass, make an athlete stronger (obviously), and teach them how to properly engage.
As you can see, proper strength training should be integrated into any training program where the goal is to maximize athletic performance. I think strength training gets a bad wrap because it is so often done improperly. Yes, a BAD strength program will lead to injury. Yes, a BAD strength program will make you slower. Yes, a BAD strength program will be detrimental to your performance. Thankfully, the bad programs are becoming easier and easier to spot, and you’ll never have to worry about that if you train with us.
Until next time,
-Jer
3 Quick Tips to Improve Dramatically
Yesterday, I was asked by one of my players if I could provide him with three tips for players who want to improve rapidly and give themselves the best opportunity to play at the next level. I thought about it for a minute and wanted to share what I shared with him.
Yesterday, I was asked by one of my players if I could provide him with three tips for players who want to improve rapidly and give themselves the best opportunity to play at the next level. I thought about it for a minute and wanted to share what I shared with him.
My first tip is to compete. Of course, we want to have fun and we want to enjoy playing soccer, but if you want to improve quickly and give yourself the best opportunity to play at the next level, then you have to shift your mindset to a competitive one. You have to compete in every game, compete at every practice, compete in every exercise, and compete on every play. Truly competitive players, players who will sacrifice anything to win, are rare. These players stand out amongst their peers and a team full of competitive players will wreck havoc in any league, regardless of the level.
My second tip is to watch soccer. Many of the players I coach do not actually watch soccer, and it shows. Watching soccer allows you to gain a perspective and understanding about what you should do whilst you are on the field. And while you’re at it, don’t just watch, analyze it. Don’t just follow the ball or watch highlights, watch the players who play the same position as you, and analyze what they do when the ball is in a certain part of the field, or with a certain player. Watch how they move, watch when they step, watch when they drop, watch when they attack, watch when they defend, when they take players on, and when they move the ball around, you get the idea. Doing so will improve your knowledge of the game, and will dramatically improve your movement, decision making, and positioning on the field. In fact, we have brain cells called “mirror neurons” that fire both when we watch someone perform an act, and then when we perform it ourselves, physiologically indicating that we can improve at something by simply watching it.
My last tip for rapid improvement is to practice the skills you are able to outside of practice, outside of practice, and practice them at game speed. Doing so will allow you to maximize the time you spend at practice learning and competing. It will also help you stand out to your coaches and earn more playing time. Practices should not be spent working on the technical skills that are within your control, those skills are your responsibility to develop on your own. Skills like passing, receiving, shooting, pulling the ball out of the air, dribbling, etc., are all simple to train on your own and should be habitual actions at practice. And practice them at game speed. Doing so will increase the likelihood of the skills translating when you are under pressure on the field. Improving these skills on your own will maximize your ability, and allow you to use practice to improve the skills that are a little harder to work on yourself, such as tactics or decision making.
So, in summary, if you are trying to improve dramatically, and give yourself the best opportunity to play at the next level, my three best tips (at this time) are to compete, watch soccer, and develop your technical skills outside of practice.
Thanks for reading,
-Jer