Don’t Ignore Your Acceleration and Deceleration

Soccer is a combo of long sprints and quick movements. At any point in the game, players need to have the endurance to run for a long period and consistently make sharp turns.

Without one of these 👆 aspects, a player becomes less dynamic.

I’ve covered the long-distance stuff and improving your stamina.

Here, I’d like to cover why accelerating and decelerating are important parts of the game. Also, you’ll learn the results of focusing on them.

Why is Acceleration and Deceleration Important?

There are a few reasons why you should focus on going fast and slow. Here are the main reasons:

• Change of direction: Changing direction quickly in soccer gives you a huge advantage. You’ll be able to avoid, get to the ball faster, and make better runs.
• Win more 50/50 balls: The skill to accelerate quicker can result in you getting to more 50/50 balls. You’ll be faster off the black and be able to get a foot on the ball faster.
• Deceive defenders: Sometimes to go fast, you need to go slow. A change of pace can put a defender on its heels.
• Conserve more energy: Knowing how to decelerate during games can help you catch your breath. After a long spring, you can still be in the game and conserve your energy. Deceleration accomplishes this.
• Preventing injuries: Believe it or not, knowing how to accelerate and decelerate properly can help avoid some injuries. You won’t hyperextend your legs or pull a muscle as much.

The National Library of Medicine did a detailed study to see if acceleration and deceleration were important in soccer games.

This is what they concluded…

“The High-intensity accelerations and decelerations are important match actions that allow players to adapt to tactical demands, win duals and create/defend goal attempts, all critical for match outcome.”

More from the same study…

“Across the competitive season, players performed more high-intensity declarations than accelerations. Thus, in contemporary soccer match play particular consideration may be needed to prepare players for the demands of high-intensity decelerations. In addition, the positional demands of high-intensity accelerations and decelerations are important to consider when preparing and conditioning players for competition throughout the season.”

Training Videos (With and Without the Ball)

I found a couple of great videos to work on your velocity. This one is more technical but has some good exercises you can do in the backyard.

This is a very good explanation of using different speeds with the ball.