Ankle injuries, hamstring injuries, and the dreaded knee injuries are all too common in young soccer players. If your family has been involved with soccer in any form, I’m sure you know. With this, injury prevention has been a HUGE topic buzzing around not only in soccer but all of the sports world, especially for youth athletes.
Seattle United has provided every team in the club with an injury prevention warm-up that coaches normally have their players do at least 2x/week. To make sure your child can continue that, I have provided a video that your kids can do at home! This injury prevention regimen only takes 5 minutes out of the day and only requires a resistance band.
If this is your first time start with a lighter resistance and then work your way up. Each exercise only needs to be 30-45 seconds long and you can just rotate through all of them 2-3 times.
Now, what can this do for your kid? This specific injury prevention regimen focuses on activating and strengthening the core, glutes, and hamstring muscles. Why are these muscles important? Well as the name states, the muscles in the core are the CORE of the body. It is not just the ab muscles and it’s not just so one can look strong and lean. The muscles range from the abs all the way around to the back and are there to be a foundation to the rest of the body. They are there so you can cut, turn, move, or stop quickly and without injuring yourself.
Now the glutes, or more known as the butt muscles, are the POWERHOUSE of the body. As the name states, they give the body the ability to run, jump, sit, stand and change directions. The hamstrings then work with the glutes to assist these movements as well and are a huge contributor to sprinting and deceleration (aka slowing down).
By focusing on strengthening these muscles, your child can have a lower risk of pulling muscles and spraining their knees or ankles. Not only that, but it can also give an added bonus of making them stronger and faster! Want more? Just email me at [email protected].
