UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities

Paul Bugeja

UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
Basic Principles of Coordination Training
The key ingredient to working with pre-adolescent and early adolescent athletes is
providing global stimulation from a movement perspective.
Younger athletes must experience and eventually perfect a variety of motor skills in order
to ensure both future athletic success and injury prevention.
Developing basic coordination through movement stimulus is a must, with the eventual
goal of developing sport-specific coordination in the teenage years.
Coordination is a global system made up of several synergistic elements and not
necessarily a singularly defined ability.
Balance, rhythm, spatial orientation and the ability to react to both auditory and visual
stimulus have all been identified as elements of coordination.
Development of good coordination is a multi-tiered sequence that progresses from skills
performed with good spatial awareness but without speed to skills performed at increased
speeds and in a constantly changing environment.
Coordination is best developed between the ages of 7 14, with the most crucial period
being between 10 13 years of age.
An important issue with respect to coordination development is to provide stimulus that is
specific and appropriate for the individual. Younger athletes who learn to master the
elements associated with good coordination are far better off then athletes who are not
exposed to this kind of exercise stimulation until advanced ages.
Global coordination will serve as basis to develop specific coordination in the teenage
years. Coordination development is a process that encompasses years of exposure and is
based on DIVERSITY and VERSATILITY.
Adolescence is not an appropriate time during which to begin elements of coordination
training. As strength, speed, height and body mass change significantly during these years,
it is much more prudent to reinforce already known movements rather than teach new
ones. Coordination training, for example, is introduced during the pre-adolescent ages
while nervous system plasticity is high and movement habits have not yet been ingrained
as permanent.

Physical growth alters the young athletes previously mastered movement habits so
coordination training should change during adolescent ages.
Refinement of movement should take precedent over learning new movement-based
skills. In post-adolescence, coordination training can once again be taken to new heights.

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
Basic Principles of Coordination Training

Basic Principles

Here are basic principles of coordination training

1. Start young coordination improves as a result of learning and mastering new

movements. Start young athletes off early with coordination-based exercises that
challenge their abilities (within reason).
The more coordination a young athlete has, the more ability will display at any perspective
sport.

2. Challenge young athletes on an individual and appropriate level

Some youngsters have good balance while others display good rhythm.
The key to successful coaching is to undercover what elements of coordination each
athlete requires and develop drills/exercises that most suitably target the weaknesses.

3. Change exercises frequently young athletes learn quickly in most cases.

Be sure to challenge them physically and intellectually with new exercises often.

Brian Grasso - Executive Director of International Youth Conditioning Association

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
 Coordinative Capacities
Balance
Balance is the coordination skill which is the prerequisite of the practical and quick performance of
movement exercises where the supporting surface is very small or the balance circumstances are
very unsteady (turning, spinning). This manifests itself in the sense of balance.

Exercise 1
1v1 exercise - Ball Defending against the attack of an Opponent

Exercise 2
One Leg Balance Arms Holding and moving a football with Open / Closed Eyes
Balance exercise can be proposed using different surfaces: mats, foams, stability cushions, BOSU, etc.

Exercise 3
Small fast turns while dribbling around cones

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
 Coordinative Capacities
Sense of Rhythm
Rhythm is a state of mind, an unconscious feeling that allows the player to be in tune with the ball
and the movement of the game around him.
Sense of Rhythm : match movements to a rhythm the athlete hears, sees, or feels.

Exercise 1
Players are asked to play different number of touches with the ball keeping a rhythm

Exercise 2
Dribbling the ball thru slalom of cones uniformly spaced

Exercise 3
Running over hurdles set a uniform and varying distances

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
 Coordinative Capacities
Kinesthetic Differentiation
Kinesthetic Differentiation: the ability to correctly estimate differences in form, distance, timing,
and the amount of strength required to perform movements.
Ex: kicking or putting a ball at an assigned distance, jumping at assigned & different distances etc..

Exercise 1
Jumps over hurdles of various heights or box Jumps from various heights

Exercise 2
2 players Short distance passing without stopping, using both feet and different sized balls.

Exercise 3
Kicking & Throwing balls of various weight and size at specific distances & targets

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
 Coordinative Capacities
Speed of Reaction
Speed of Reaction : reaction to signals. Can be sound, sight or touch.
Reaction time defined as interval of time between onset of a stimulus and initiation of a response.
ex: change directions, making starts and short sprints from various positions on the signal.

Exercise 1
Players facing each other. Assigned leader decides to sprint to end line.
Partner must react and try to beat his partner and reach the line first.
Progression Players must react & sprint to opposite line from partner & get back to middle.
A feint is allowed to try and trick partner. Can also use a ball.

Exercise 2
4 different colour cones player reacts by touching cones (i) called (ii) touched by coach

Exercise 3
Server in front of player approx. 10m away. Server passes to A1 who returns the pass back.
Server plays the ball at pace through either gateway.
A1 sprints and attempts to prevent the ball from going through the gate goal.

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course
 Coordinative Capacities
Spatial Orientation
Spatial Orientation defines our natural ability to maintain our body orientation or posture in
relation to the surrounding environment (physical space) at rest and during motion.
Genetically speaking, humans are designed to maintain spatial orientation on the ground.
Exercise 1

Player A passes to player B then immediately sprints to the position vacated by player C
who has run to the spare cone.
Player B receives the ball and passes to player C with no more than two touches.
Player B sprints to the space created by player A.
Pattern continues as player C receives ball and passes to player A who passes back to B.
What is happening is the ball is going one way while the player runs the other.
Exercise 2

5v2 with player in central area: Attackers need to find the space to pass the ball to central
player, while defenders the need to close it down as quickly as possible.
Speed of thought is essential, as is the awareness of the players, either in creating room to
fashion chances or covering areas where attacks might develop.
Exercise 3
Game in a small / crowded area in difficult conditions and scoring in any 3 goals

Develop three exercises on five coordinative capacities Paul Bugeja UEFA Elite Youth A Diploma Course