best soccer equipment-improve skills at training

No player of the world`s most beautiful game would just go into the pitch and give a superb performance without training hard for it. It takes weeks and months of training in order to come out sharp for a competitive match.

Training is physically demanding. There is a lot of running, press-ups, swats, frog jumps and all other strenuous exercises that make a player fit for a match. It is therefore imperative to have the best soccer equipment at training.

I personally thought at first training equipment was not important, but with time i then realized that equipment is good at coach and players development, both physically and mentally.

Let’s dive in and see the best soccer equipment.

Mannequins

These are dummies used to simulate humans in soccer training. They come in human shape and are made from a combination of various material like rubber, plastic, light steel and or fibre glass.

They are portable and are made both for indoor and outdoor use.

Whilst they are immobile during training, they are good pieces of equipment when employed in the right drills.

The greatest help of mannequins are with dead ball situations IE free kicks, penalties and free kicks.

Quick ladders

As the name suggests, quick ladders are ladders that are used by players when they are laid on the ground and various drills can be done on this piece of equipment. The ladders are generally 20 feet (6,096 m) and 12 rugs made of plastic. Two x 20 feet ladders can be joined to make a total distance of 40 feet (12,192 m).

Quick ladders helps players with speed, change of direction, balance and acceleration. They give a good work out of the cardio because the player determine at which speed he wants to achieve, from jogging to sprints. The good cardio exercise will help in burning of calories in addition of strengthening ligaments and tendons.

Soccer Training Poles

Soccer training are just small poles with a height of 1,5-2m and a diameter of 25mm. The have spikes or rubber bases so that they can be placed at desired distances and formations in order to achieve different drills in practice

Speed rings

These are rings of metal or plastic that can be scattered on the ground and they are very good for footwork drills. The players or coaches can use different formations and see if they can get good leg coordination and speed.

Soccer re bouncer

This is squared equipment with elastic or spring target which allows the player to kick the ball into the equipment then the ball bounce back at them.

Simple equipment to use. Just place the ball at a distance in front of the re bouncer and kick the ball.

The faster the player feeds the ball in the quicker it returns to them.

Re bouncers can be used to train both field players and goalkeepers. Placed at an angle the goalkeepers can be trained as the ball bounce from it simulate a shot at goal. The keeper can dive, stretch or block the ball. The player can work on receiving passes from different trajectories and distances.

Pop up soccer Goals

Pop up soccer goal are what we can simply say are miniature goal post. The equipment has got both poles and nets. The most common shapes are D and rectangular shapes.

Due to it’s size, no goalkeeper is needed for this equipment.

They are one of the best equipment either for soccer practice or pick up soccer game. They can potentially turn any space into a soccer field.

Strikers can make use of pop up soccer goals to improve their shooting accuracy. They have to aim into a net of a smaller area than the usual goal post.

Another advantage of pop up soccer goals is that, players can be divided into pairs and each pair having a ball and this equipment. All pairs can train simultaneously on the shooting drills rather than the whole team to wait for one goal post for that training exercise.

Marker Cones

They are simply cones that are used by coaches to mark out distances during a training session.

Plastic cones are popular with soccer teams. They come in sets of forty and each set include four different colours.

Soccer cones help improve a player’s ability to accelerate, decelerate, and quickly change positioning.

Magnetic Soccer Tactic Board

Every coach has got a game plan and strategies that he wants his players to follow in order to the those important 3 points. Whether it’s a 4-4-3 or a 4-4-2-1 formation that he wants players to follow, he or she has got to clearly illustrate that visually and that can be done using a magnetic tactic board.

The board is made up of dual premium frame and a compact white board. It comes with coloured magnetic buttons, marker and eraser. The coloured buttons are used to illustrate player positions and the coach can draw player movements with a marker.

Coaches can have either a handheld that they can use by the pitch side or a wall mounted board for the dressing room.

Running parachute

Imagine when you are running and a force is pulling you back. All of a sudden that force releases you. I imagine there is a bolt of energy that hits you and there is exponential increase in speed. That is what a running parachute does when used in training. This is the type of force that is needed by soccer players both in training and during a match.

A parachute works by filling up with air as speed is increased thereby creating resistance that drag the body. This makes a sprint harder therefore the runner has to put more effort and strength.

Application of more strength during this exercise improves sprint speed and strengthen lower body muscles.

Take away

The little equipment mentioned above are not the only ones available on the market. There are probably thousands of products that can be used by coaches and players to improve skills at training.

After all we want players to be at their best all season long.

Happy training.

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