By Colin Wang

With much of the country still quarantined, many have turned to sports to help them get through it.  Though many youth sports have not resumed recently, many professional sports have or will be expected to in the next few weeks or months.  Over these past few months, younger athletes have been using their homes to keep in shape that can and will get boring.  Shaan Gandhi, who plays soccer and is the author of the article, goes on to say that things “soccer—have become repetitive activities and tedious exercises with limited competition.”  They are not alone, though, as many professional athletes also have to practice in their own homes since lockdown in mid-March.  For soccer, coaches across the country are players to stay motivated and fit is similar to what professionals do.  Gandhi stated that his team, the Soccer Stars United in NYC, has three days of virtual training a week and physical workouts and tactical throughout the week with other things such as film study, high-intensity interval training, full-body workout, and other soccer-related activities.  Some coaches are reaching out and creating groups online and sharing plans as well as training schedules.  According to Jake Roswell, the performance coach for the MLS’s NYCFC, that many teams are using Zoom and doing meetings on strength, stretching, and stamina.  Although players on NYCFC were sent dumbbells and elastic bands for strength and stretching, they also hosted other kinds of classes.  Players were also allowed to choose between yoga or kickboxing once a week.  The pros and youths both held one-on-one sessions to train and to let them talk.  The professional league also had one-on-one for separate positions with different coaches and special workouts for specific players.

Sources:

https://www.sikids.com/planet-futbol/youth-soccer-pro-training-quarantine