What are the best fuel foods for soccer players? What training regimen will best prepare young soccer players and improve their resistance to injuries? This comprehensive guide to health and fitness for soccer players offers expert advice for soccer teams at all levels. With decades of combined experience treating and training elite soccer players, exercise physiologist Donald Kirkendall and orthopedic specialist William E. Garrett Jr. present complex issues in an easy-to-understand format. The book addresses the physical and mental demands of the game, including the differences between boys' and girls' games and the differences in the levels of play in youth, college, and professional leagues; nutrition fundamentals, including food, drink, and vitamin supplements; physiology and training methods, with an emphasis on the basic elements of flexibility, speed, strength, and conditioning; and injury treatment and prevention. For players looking to step up their game, for parents who want to keep their kids healthy, and for coaches seeking the advice of the pros, this guide is an indispensable reference to keep handy on the sidelines.

Written by soccer great and championship Stanford coach Bobby Clark, COACHING YOUTH SOCCER: THE BAFFLED PARENT'S GUIDE tells you how, starting at point zero, an uninitiated coach can meld kids into a team and help them enjoy one of the most rewarding experiences of their youth. (In the end, you may be the one who reaps the biggest reward, as you watch kids learn and grow in an experience they'll treasure for a lifetime.)

The official playing and coaching manual for youth soccer of the United States Soccer Federation. The definitive playing and coaching manual for youth soccer. Compiled by the coaching, educational and technical staff of U.S. Soccer, this book offers extensive information on all aspects of the game, technique, tactics, laws, prevention and care of injury, coaching preparation, organizational structure, model training sessions, and more than 100 practice games suitable for developing aspects of every player's game. Features numerous games for developing dribbling * passing * finishing * heading * defending * goalkeeping, as well as games specifically for young beginners * games to teach tactics * overall soccer decision-making. Extensive technique section offers detailed pointers on dribbling and turning moves * shielding * passing * receiving * drives * chips, bending the ball and volleys * heading * marking * tackling * goalkeeping catches * dives and saves. Tactical chapters offer detailed information on fundamental attacking tactics * defensive principles * restart tactics for defensive and offensive success. Model training sections construct excellent practice sessions, from warmup through cool down exercises * useful for all coaches as a guide to improving performance * efficiency * enjoyment of training.

Young readers learn the tactics, techniques, rules, and regulations of the world's most beloved sport. This comprehensive book covers everything about soccer, from moves and strategies to teams and organizations to history and lore. Full color.

From the FIFA World Cup to pick-up games at your local park, soccer is the closest thing in our world to a universal entertainment. Many writers use this global popularity to describe the game’s winners and losers, but what happens when we use social science to explore how soccer intersects with culture, society, and the self? This book provides a thinking fan’s guide to the world’s most popular game, proposing a way of engaging soccer that sparks intellectual curiosity and employs critical consciousness. Using stories and data, along with ideas from sociology, psychology, and across the social sciences, it provides readers with new ways of understanding fanaticism, peak performance, talent development, and more. Drawing on concepts ranging from cognitive bias to globalization, it illuminates meanings of the game for players and fans while investigating impacts on our lives and communities. While it considers soccer cultures across the globe, the book also analyzes what makes U.S. soccer culture special, including its embrace of the women’s game. As a scholar, former minor league player and coach, and fan, Andrew Guest offers a distinctive perspective on soccer in society. Whatever name you call it, and whatever your interest in it, Soccer in Mind will enrich your own view of the one truly global game.

With the explosive growth of youth soccer and overwhelming interest in U.S. professional leagues, Americans from coast to coast are eager to learn more about soccer. This easy-to-read guide, filled with illustrations and action photographs, contains everything for the fan and non-fan alike to understand and enjoy the sport of soccer.

Everything any fan needs to know. Club Soccer 101 is the essential guide to 101 of the most storied soccer clubs in the world. The book covers the history of European powerhouses like Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid; historic South American clubs like Boca Juniors, Corinthians, Penarol, and Santos; and rising clubs from Africa, Asia, and America, including such leading MLS clubs as LA Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, and Seattle Sounders. Writing with the passion and panache of a deeply knowledgeable and opinionated fan, Luke Dempsey explains what makes each club distinctive: their origins, fans, and style of play; their greatest (and most heartbreaking) seasons and historic victories and defeats; and their most famous players—from Pelé, Eusébio, and Maradona to Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, and Ronaldo. With club soccer exploding in popularity, Club Soccer 101 provides everything any fan needs to know.

One of the most popular sports in the world is soccer. The Beginners Guide to Soccer: The Basics of Playing Soccer for Newcomers to the Sport by Coach Robert Bradley is his new book aimed at educating individuals wanting to begin playing the hugely popular sport of soccer. One of the most popular team sports in the world, it is no surprise that the game is quickly becoming the sport of choice for many young children, teens and adults, both male and female alike. A team sport that requires dexterity, teamwork, friendship, trust, self-discipline and sportsmanship, the skills individuals collect by playing soccer match only the physical fitness it helps to develop. Inside this soccer guide you will discover: What Soccer is and its history. The Basic Rules of Soccer for new Players. The Various Player Positions on the Pitch. What Each Players Role is During a Game of Soccer. How to Play a Soccer Match. What Readily Available Sports Equipment is Needed to Play Soccer? How to Start Building Basic Soccer Skills. Plus, so much more... By reading this guide you can have all the information required to understand, setup and play your first game of soccer all while helping to improve your overall fitness, social skills and sense of sportsmanship by reading the practical and informative advice contained inside.

In Soccer: A Guide for Players and Fans, young readers can dive into one of the world's most popular sports. Readers will find easy-to-read explanations of soccer's beginnings, basic rules and strategies, and how they can suit up and get on the pitch. This book features colorful photos, fun facts, and informative sidebars, and aspiring soccer players will take what they learn from it and head straight to the goal!