From Grassroots to Greatness: Conditioning Guidelines for Youth Football with Filipe Castro

Kids today start practicing football at a very early age. How should their practice be structured to ensure a long-lasting interest in football?

Before going into the answer in detail, when we talk about young footballers, we should know that they can be divided into three distinct stages. The stages correspond to the ages between 6 and 12 called “Sampling years”, from 13 to 15 “Specialising years” and from 16 onwards “Investment years”. However, long-term sports preparation models state that development should be differentiated according to the chronological age and biological maturation of the children. That said, there is still another, more comprehensive model to address the interaction between growth, maturation and training on an individual basis. It is suggested that weight (Kg) and height (m) be collected regularly in order to assess peak growth velocity (PHV).

Another aspect to emphasise is the environment (i.e., context) in which the young person finds themselves. It’s one thing for the child to be at an amateur club where the focus is solely on raising money, passion for the club or a village club. It’s another thing to be at a city club where the top team is in the Champions League. Both cases will have different impacts on the child’s future life in terms of motivation, stress, anxiety and fears. That’s why the role of the sports psychologist must be present, to help eliminate fears and motivate athletes to reach a level of excellence.

In the various team sports, including football, regardless of their age, kids should be exposed to a few rules and simple objectives. They should constantly be put to the test, challenged with different levels of demand and rigour, but within the playful component. In a simplistic way, and so that young people don’t lose their intrinsic motivation, they should go through a set of games with various stimuli or playful activities (e.g., dancing, swimming, recreational games) so as not to lose focus. Through such playful games and constant interaction (e.g., nature walks and challenges), they should also work on their attentional focus. Nowadays, with electronic gadgets, it’s easy for kids to lose their attention span, and they can even become completely unfocussed by the reality of sport. In addition to games, work on body perception, rhythmic activities, activities that include coordination components and activities that promote cohesion and group spirit should be present on a daily basis.

In order to work with young people, coaches must be qualified, clear, concise, concrete, emotional, empathetic, seductive and capable of operating quickly and moderately. At an earlier age, the coach should use a more personalised leadership style, which can be varied according to the characteristics of those being coached. Depending on the context and the type of child they have at their disposal, they can use a more autocratic or democratic style. The coach has to be able to get inside the child’s brain to understand what’s going on in their head, in order to develop them as children and future players.

From a training prescription perspective, it is suggested that coaches explore passing and receiving. Only in this way will the athlete be able to increase their ball skills and remain motivated to take on more demanding tasks. There is a wide range of exercises that include passing and receiving, either individually or collectively, depending on the objective and context. I would also emphasise that youngsters should experience every moment of the game and go through every position on the pitch as a way of improving their field of vision and perception.

Finally, I think that at the youngest levels (e.g., U14), the result shouldn’t be the main objective, but rather teaching youngsters how to deal with defeats, draws and euphoric victories in a healthy way.

At what age should young football players start strength and conditioning training?

 The literature has been quite clear on strength training for young footballers. Athletes may have the same chronological age, but different biological ages, ranging from 4 to 5 years. Due to this relative mismatch, and the great biological variation between children of the same chronological age, the limitations of using chronological age for future exercise prescriptions for youngsters will be highlighted. At a young age, there are windows of opportunity where a child is more likely to develop a certain physical quality, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to develop that same physical quality later on. When we start strength work in the pre-pubertal stages, we develop more neural properties. These are characterised by improved intramuscular coordination. Optimising intramuscular coordination will in turn improve intermuscular coordination, leading to improved motor control. For example, evidence suggests that pre-pubertal youngsters benefit more from training with a high neural level (e.g., plyometrics and sprints). Long-term models emphasise that the development of hypertrophic strength comes 12 to 18 months after peak growth velocity (PHV). The reason why there are rapid gains in muscle mass is due to the fact that hormone secretion (e.g., testosterone, growth hormone and leptin) is more pronounced. At this stage (i.e., adolescence) there will also be changes in androgen concentrations, fibre type differentiation, resting ATP, creatine phosphate levels and the architectural development of tendon units. Finally, Youth Physical Development (i.e., beginning at age 6) states that strength should be worked on throughout the child’s stages. The main objective will clearly be to improve motor skills with movements in different planes at an early stage. Only once they have acquired the basic movement patterns do they start working with body weight. Once the movements have been standardised, then the young player can start working with external loads, regardless of their age.

How can young football players incorporate coordination, speed, agility, strength, and explosiveness training into their already busy daily schedules?

One of the big differences between senior football and youth football is the congested timetables, the time available to dedicate to physical qualities and the training culture. In youth football, few teams are considered professional to the extent that football is a priority or a profession for young players in Portugal. In the training environment, going to school is one of the main priorities for young people. Even though there is an academy, the timetable is extremely restricted, and the fact that there are a number of external factors (e.g., family background) means that you can’t be a professional 100% of the time. In some training contexts, training is in the morning, but you have to go straight to school afterwards. In other contexts (e.g., semi-professional or district), training can take place in the afternoon or at the end of the day. As a result, the incorporation of physical qualities is somewhat restricted. If there’s a lot of openness on the part of the structure and the coach, it’s more accessible to carry out complementary work. In the example of coordination, we should use it in a field context or even in the gym and it can be seen as a form of pre-activation. There are different types of coordination (e.g., ladder coordination and the various phases of running). Therefore, if we want to improve our quality of movement, it is suggested that we work on the absence of fatigue. Still on the subject of coordination, I’d also like to emphasise the progressive work of lateral running or running backwards, which are extremely important for a young player. Knowing how to decelerate with and without the ball, being aware of the speed of the ball in aerial play and knowing how to make the call to attack the ball at the highest point turns out to be a complex system in which there will be a number of variables that require progressive and qualitative work.

Another physical quality often used in sports is explosive strength. Through the rate of force development, we can see how quickly the athlete develops strength. Athletes who produce high levels of force have a better state of physical performance. Explosive strength can be expressed with slow (i.e., ≥ 250 milliseconds) and fast (i.e., ≤ 250 milliseconds) lengthening and shortening cycles. This manifestation of force can be calculated in various ways (e.g., average rate of force development). As a way of enhancing this display of strength, it is suggested that it be carried out without fatigue and it turns out to be an excellent pre-activation for training on the pitch. It is usually done with low loads and working at thresholds far from fatigue. We can use box jumps, plyometrics, ballistic work and weight lifting. Although it is a very useful tool for the player, it should be incorporated according to the player’s profile, the time it takes for each player to recover and the competitive period.

When we’re working on maximum (submaximal) strength or resistance work, we need to know that there is absolute and relative strength. Absolute strength is a young person’s ability to produce maximum force regardless of their body weight. Relative strength, on the other hand, is a compromise between the two options, i.e. the amount of load you can move in relation to your body weight. Let’s imagine that the young player needs to boost neural strength (i.e., 90- 100% 1RM), it is suggested that this work be done before training without fatigue. You’ll need long rest periods between sets, for example 2-4 minutes, as your body needs (ATP-PCr) to provide energy. On the other hand, when we want to increase muscle mass, we perform hypertrophic work (i.e., 70%-85% 1RM). This is theoretically determined by the total amount of external load we can move (i.e., repetitions x sets). This method plays a significant role in chronic muscle adaptations, such as muscle size and strength. It is suggested that you perform it either pre-workout or outside of training. With this method, we aim to promote anabolism. Finally, if you have a busy schedule, we suggest that you do the strength session right after the match, as this is the best window of opportunity to add load.

Agility and speed should be an integral part of training. Speed, in particular, should be worked on during childhood and adolescence, and can be improved with the maturation process. Agility, on the other hand, is not highlighted as a clear starting age. However, it is very important to understand that this quality is directly related to changes of direction, sprinting and other behaviours at play. Although in order to improve our times (e.g., tests) and quality of movement, these actions should be done at the start of training. Although these qualities are almost always worked on at the start of training, we mustn’t forget that the accumulation of the game brings fatigue. So, these actions should also be worked on during fatigue to increase the difficulty of the task. Of course, working with fatigue increases the likelihood of injury, but if we want to challenge our players there’s nothing like putting them to the test.

Last but not least, I think we should take into account the stage of the season we’re in. Working on any physical quality in pre-season, the neuromuscular and cardiovascular adaptations are completely different when we’re talking about the end of the season.

What should be the main differences in designing speed and agility training programs for 6-9, 10-14, and 15-18-year-old football players?

The basis for developing speed in young footballers begins with proper running technique. Coaches must emphasise the importance of proper posture. By starting this type of work early on, they will always be closer to being faster depending on their competitive level. Making athletes faster can be a challenging project for strength and conditioning coaches looking for scientifically proven speed development methods to integrate into a complete athletic development programme or return to performance protocols.

Speed can be linear and multidirectional. Within speed development there is acceleration. It’s important to note that the position of our centre of mass, posture and balance will change depending on when we are in the running cycle. As a rule, the maximum speed cycle is realised off the ground (i.e., stride frequency and stride length).

For agility work, as I mentioned earlier, it’s really important for young players to master skills such as accelerating, decelerating and changing direction. I think that the accumulation of all kinds of work, from vertical and horizontal power to strength work with low centres of gravity, has helped with changes of direction. Changes of direction can occur at angles of 45°, 90°, 180°, and 360°. So, getting the youngsters used to this type of demand from the outset will be an asset when they later transfer to the game.

As for the proposed ages, between 6 and 9 the idea is clearly to master the basic movements of a running cycle. Exercises such as skippings, countermovement jumps and unilateral jumps are always great strategies to use at these ages.

Between the ages of 10 and 14, once the movements have been consolidated, we can move on to exercises that require more joint and muscle impact, such as drops jumps. Phases such as landing and taking off can also be started with the respective degrees of progression. At this age it’s important to start exerting force against the ground and trying to absorb that same force in the opposite direction. These are always good ages to start plyometrics, for example. At this early stage (i.e., 10 years old) lateral movement with rotation of the supports for changes of direction is suggested.

Finally, from 15 to 18, the movements should be acquired to promote what speed and agility really are. At this stage, young people should understand the concept of slowing down and changing direction 180° objectively. They need to be able to sprint in multiple directions. When changing direction 180°, for example, the non-dominant leg should have the same force-producing capacity as the non-dominant leg. Towards the age of 18, it is suggested that agonists and antagonists be worked on to check for deficits in force production. Despite the fact that more and more athletes are biologically highly developed, we are currently surrounded by players with significant statures. So, it’s up to training professionals to develop gross motor skills so that they can be the most efficient in terms of agility and speed throughout all the stages.