The term athletic training in soccer (or physical training) indicates a training method used to improve an athlete’s or team’s performance from a coordinative and conditioning point of view.
In soccer, athletic conditioning training is used to train general coordination skills (motor learning, motor control, motor transformation) and special coordination skills (motor combination, differentiation of muscular strength, balance, orientation, rhythm, response, adaptation). Athletic conditioning training is used to strengthen endurance, strength, velocity and speed. There is a further objective: soccer athletic training can prevent injuries linked to training load mismanagement (muscle-tendon injuries in particular).
In order to schedule the drills it is possible to follow a general and/or a specific sport programme. For example, soccer athletic training is important both for a player’s general endurance and a specific role endurance training. The same goes for other coordinative and conditioning abilities. Indeed, performance characteristics vary from sport to sport: soccer players’ endurance is different from runners’, as well as their strength differs from basketball players’ and their speed is different from tennis players’.
For this reason, before planning soccer athletic training, it is necessary to know the player’s performance model, including the peculiarities of the role. In this way athletic training will be targeted, specific and suitable for the team and the player.