C.O.A.C.H. - Part 1: Cardio

By Don Ebert
Head Coach, Concordia University
U.S.F.C.  Technical Director

    I want to focus on the five biggest mistakes that players entering college for the first time make that greatly impact their ability to earn playing time and win credibility with the coaching staff.  If your goal is to play in college, you must fully understand that unlike club or high school, college programs are dominated by the head coach.  It is his baby, his program, his decisions.   He picks players that play the style and system he wants to play, he schedules half of his opponents, he decides who gets what money and for how long.   The head coach in college is a one stop shop and you have to fully understand that in order to survive.  See, in the pros, you have General Managers and Owners and Scouts that have more say most times than the coach.  In sports like football, you have offensive amd defensive coordinators and coaches that can buffer the feelings of the head coach.  But in college soccer, every decision is made by the one man…COACH.  And those five letters stand for the five biggest mistakes I see first year players make…lets go.

    C stands for Cardiovascular.  Simply put, this means what type of shape you show up to preseason camp in.  I see time and time again first year guys that come into two-a-days completely or partially out of shape.  How is this possible? You have had all summer to get yourself fit and at the proper playing weight yet you show up for your
first impression with the COACH and you finish in the back of the pack.  It is OK for that senior who was first team All-American last year to “glide” through the early fitness runs; he has proven himself in the college world.  What have you done?

    I tell all first year guys to be in the top third of every conditioning run or exercise that the team does.  It is a must.  Remember, you are trying not only to make the team, but to get some playing time and the college preseason camp is only 2-3 weeks long before games start.  A college coach has a very limited time to work in new players, get them to fit in and start the season on a winning note.  Whenever in doubt, coaches will go with what they know, and they know their returning players.  Do not cut corners on this one, for me, it is one of the easiest ways to score points with the Coach right off the bat.  Most coaches in college will equate fitness to being ready to play just like they will easily push an unfit player to the back of the charts in no time.  Remember, college coaches have no time to baby-sit players and wait for them to get fit.  They expect you to report fit and to be at your best on day one! They are paying you to play, is that too much to ask!?

    What type of running should you do to ensure you are top third?  Make sure you can run two miles under twelve minutes.  You may not be asked to do it, but if you can get two miles in between 11:30 and 11:50, you will be viewed as fit.  Do a lot of sprinting and recovering exercises as well.  Run a full field sprint, jog back at a slow pace, sprint another, and try to get in 12-15 of those in without a significant drop in speed.  One day a week, go and run long distance at your comfortable pace just to build endurance.  A lot of guys only do this type of running in the summer and they fall way short once camp opens.  Soccer is about burst and recovery running, not jogging at one constant pace for long distances.

    Remember one thing, putting the time in your cardiovascular training on your own will pay huge dividends for you later.  Put in the time and the work now, and you will be one step closer to getting along with the COACH.

    Next time, we will talk about what the O stands for…