Soccer Warm Up Drills

Soccer players have soccer warm up drills as a part of their training regime. These are important for the players to get into the groove. Pitch in to know more.Warming up your body, before any intense physical activity - be it a sport or a gym workout is imperative. Doing the warm up helps loosen the stiff muscles and joints. It also imparts a certain flexibility to the limbs which prevents injuries. In short, it gets a player into the playing mode. Nevertheless, talking of warm ups, warm up drills are an essential part of players playing contact sports, especially, like soccer, American football, hockey and so on. In the text to come though there would be an elucidation about soccer warm up drills. So, just hang in there! Read more on soccer training.

Good Soccer Warm Up Drills

Drill #1
This is a very easy one, which can be included in professional as well as youth soccer warm up drills. In this drill, all the players get hold of a ball and then they hold it slightly away from their bodies. At the same time, they make an attempt to hit the ball with their knees and not their feet. This is done by them for around 30 seconds and they are expected to use alternate knees. Fantastic for quads, these are chiefly responsible for imparting power to the knee lifts of the players. Moreover, the hamstring muscles and the groin area too would be given a good stretch with this warm up drill.

Drill #2
The players here are asked by the coach to form a circle of around 20 yards and a cone will be placed in the circle. Each player then has to ensure that he is arm's width away from the players on his either sides. The coach then asks the players to jog in together upto the cone and then jog backwards till the outer edge of the circle. The coach can vary the runs to the center and back in the form of high knees, sidestepping, heel flicks hopping, lunges and so on. Read more on soccer exercises.

Drill #3
Okay, this can be tough and can also prove to be those fun soccer warm up drills. How? Let us check it out. Akin to tennis, the aim of this drill is to play the ball between 2 teams, which can have players from 1 to 4 per team. A barrier will be set to act as the net wherein the ball would be played back and forth between the 2 sides. The catch is not to let the ball touch the ground, hence the players can juggle, pass or do anything as far as the ball crosses the net. Touch control, passing in the air are improved by this drill.

Drill #4
Okay, this is for the future Maradonas and Gerrards! You can consider this amongst soccer warm up drills for kids. First the square sections have to be marked out using cones, measuring 10 meter by 10 meter. The players or rather the children are then divided in teams of 6 players where 3 are attackers and 3 are defenders. The job of the attackers is to concentrate on the ball and keep the possession and the defenders have to intercept the ball. After 2 minutes, the coach will whistle and the roles will be exchanged. The drill will continue for 8 minutes. This is one of the best soccer warm up drills for kids. Read more on soccer conditioning drills and workout.

Drill #5
A combination of multiple exercises and soccer moves again makes for a fantastic soccer warm up. It is more suited when you talk about soccer warm up drills for youth. A coach for this particular drill can have a makeshift obstacle course. That will involve setting up various stations which need the players to inculcate and develop skills in a good, structured routine. For instance, juggling for some time, dribbling through cones, sprinting, jumping for headers, push ups, etc. A relay race can also be done in the same manner and to add fun to it, 2 teams can compete with each other.

Last but not the least, the coach can even have indoor soccer warm up drills, which might include spot jogging, spot ball juggling or practicing headers and so on. Read more on indoor soccer drills.

All in all, these soccer warm up drills give a certain agility and improve skills of the players. It also makes them mentally prepared and focused on the practice session at hand. Therefore, now we know why are these so crucial!

This is where I go off the pitch and blow the whistle!
By Medha Godbole
Published: 4/27/2010