As a football coach I want to spend as much time as possible on the pitch with my players. Working on their technical skills, the tactical aspects of the game, talk with individual players and work on improving some details in their development. But I have also realized, that to be able to reach the top and really develop the players for the future, it is necessary to open my eyes, and use elements from other sports when the players are young.
I really do believe that in the long run, we will develop even better players if we from a young age introduce them to other sports. I have seen the benefits of this at several clubs, and also tried some quite new elements myself.
A couple of years ago I coached an extremely talented group of U16 girls, some were at the Danish Youth National teams, and several of them are now playing at the highest level in the country. But several of them suffered with knee-problems and we also felt we could improve their ability to jump. We were not a team consisting of tall players, and when the players couldn’t jump, then we often had trouble in the aerial duels.
We then started a process with a former ballet dancer. She took part in our training a couple of times each week for a period. She coached the players in how to jump, they learned the correct technique when jumping. We worked hard with these exercises, and after some months we could really see a fantastic progress from all the players. All the players showed great improvement when we tested them again, and we could also see the benefit of this training in the matches, where we started winning some aerial duels.

But the introduction of the ballet instructor didn’t just improve the players ability to jump. She also helped coach the players in how to twist and turn correct, so they could avoid injuries in knees, back and hip. We had no injuries in these areas for the rest of that season. So, by using and getting inspiration from something so far away from football as ballet, we actually learned a lot and improved our players significantly.
I also remember visiting the great Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem a few years ago. They had started a programme where their young players were introduced to, I think it was judo or taekwondo. Why did their young players use several hours a week indoor doing these exercises then? Well, because they could see a clear link between this kind of training once or twice a week and developing better footballers for the future.
The young players learned how to fall correct to the ground. Minimizing the risk of getting injuries or breaking an arm. They also learned how to get up quickly and running again, after maybe getting to the ground after a tackle. And by working with their two brilliant instructors, they also worked a lot with their agility and were aiming to get more flexible players. I think this was another great way to use other sports, and experts from other areas than ours, to improve the young footballers of tomorrow.
I have also seen the benefits of young players between 5 and 12 years of age spending a couple of hours a week training gymnastics. This really gave them a lot to transfer into the football as they grew older. They had a great body strength, which made them strong in the duels. It also improved their jumping ability, as they from a young age had learned how to jump correct and use their entire body when jumping. And they were quite fast at the first couple of meters when sprinting.
Three examples of how football coaches shouldn’t be afraid to introduce other sports in the training. I really do believe it will benefit the talents and help develop even better players in the future, if we have the courage to let other sports and experts help us develop the youngsters. Of course, we have to be open minded and always be able to transfer these elements into football and onto the pitch.
I really do believe that in the long run, we will develop even better players if we from a young age introduce them to other sports. I have seen the benefits of this at several clubs, and also tried some quite new elements myself.
A couple of years ago I coached an extremely talented group of U16 girls, some were at the Danish Youth National teams, and several of them are now playing at the highest level in the country. But several of them suffered with knee-problems and we also felt we could improve their ability to jump. We were not a team consisting of tall players, and when the players couldn’t jump, then we often had trouble in the aerial duels.
We then started a process with a former ballet dancer. She took part in our training a couple of times each week for a period. She coached the players in how to jump, they learned the correct technique when jumping. We worked hard with these exercises, and after some months we could really see a fantastic progress from all the players. All the players showed great improvement when we tested them again, and we could also see the benefit of this training in the matches, where we started winning some aerial duels.
Want to blog for us?