Chocolate Milk For Youth Soccer Players?

Dump the after game snacks and hand out the CHOCOLATE MILK.

Full Article HERE

Yes, you heard me right. Believe it or not I was finally right about a “theory” I have had for several years.
When you take a look sports drinks they have very similar attributes to those of chocolate milk. My assumption was that there would be little difference between a children drinking chocolate milk after a soccer game vs. a sports drink. Guess what? It looks like I was right.
Indiana University conducted a study in conjunction with a grant from the dairy council. They wanted to put “my” theory to the test. The results were just as I thought they would be. “As compared to the commercial products tested, (sports recovery drinks), chocolate milk is an effective recovery aid following exhausting exercise.”
Why is chocolate milk good for youth soccer players after a game?
The study found that athletes who drank chocolate milk after an intense bout of exercise were able to workout longer and with more power during a second workout compared to athletes who drank commercial sports beverages.
I have also been a fan of drinks that incorporate protein in their carbohydrate formula. (Such as Accelerade.) Researchers stated, "Chocolate milk contains an optimal carbohydrate to protein ratio, which is critical for helping refuel tired muscles after strenuous exercise and can enable athletes to exercise at a high intensity during subsequent workouts."
Some common sense points…

1) Kids don’t drink to “re-hydrate” like athletes. They drink only when they are thirsty or when something tastes good. Tricking them into drinking more because something tastes great makes sense for any one who has dealt with young athletes.
2) The addition of protein is good for muscle recovery, growth and refueling.
3) Milk is naturally high in Potassium. My kids don’t like bananas.

Confirming these results was a study by Dr. Janet Walberg-Rankin and co-workers at Virginia Tech. This study compared body composition and muscle function responses to resistance training in males who consumed a carb drink (Gatorade) or chocolate milk following each training session. Chocolate milk consumption immediately after each workout tended to increase lean body mass and bodyweight compared to supplementation with carbs. This study clearly shows that carbs-only post-exercise beverages don’t cut it.

The one thing you want to keep however is that you want to select a non-fat or skim chocolate milk. Forty-eight percent of the calories in whole milk come from fat; 33 percent of the calories in 2% milk come from fat; 20 percent of the calories in 1% milk come from fat, and 0 percent of the calories from skim milk come from fat. So, when reaching for chocolate milk as your post-workout recovery drink of choice, choose the non-fat version.

How To Kick a Soccer Ball

How To Kick a Soccer Ball

Tip of the week - Natural Swing Path

This Soccer Kick Tip of the Week is about plant foot positioning .
Most people however, think about the plant foot position in terms of "front to back". (Also covered on Blast The Ball.) in this tip we cover "side to side" or how much space is between the ball and your foot.





Feel free to see the other soccer videos, previews and tips at Blast The Ball, how to kick a soccer ball.

"If just repeating an athletic motion over and over helped us improve, we wouldn't see a bunch of 60 year old golfers slicing a ball for over 20 years. The same applies to the soccer kick. Re-training / re-programming the soccer player is a must. Just kicking and kicking will not help them improve. There is a process that must be applied to soccer players at all levels and ages."

Coach V

Soccer Kicking Basics - Curing the Toe Kick

How to Kick a Soccer Ball - Getting Rid of the Toe Kick.

By Coach V, Blast The Ball

How many times have you heard it yelled from the sidelines? “Kick with you laces, not your toe!”

Well it really isn’t the fault of the player if you understand the evolution of the soccer kick. The problem is that most parents and many coaches don’t realize this is impossible to change without a “process”. When we created www.BlastTheBall.com we studied this problem in our research which lasted over two years. This one came pretty quickly. Video taping the player makes it easy to understand.

A child doesn’t change anything about their natural walking or running stride when they first start to kick a soccer ball. It is almost like the soccer ball just happens to get in the way of their natural stride. As we walk or run as humans our toe naturally points forward as it moves forward. Keeping the toe down would cause us to walk or run looking like a Clydesdale horse. Also, when we bring our leg forward there is VERY little clearance between the bottom of the foot and the ground. Pointing the toe down will cause it to hit the ground, often causing serious injury.

Many coaches and parents make the big mistake of taking a child straight to the form of a traditional straight kick at full force. Every time this is done the child “stubs” their toe and strains the top of their foot. This thought remains in the child’s mind and they remember that kicking this way hurts. Not a good thought process.

A child should first learn to kick with an angle kick.

An angle kick allows the toe to be pointed slightly outward and away from our body. Doing this reduces the need for so much “clearance”. This kick motion starts with the leg behind our torso. Then the leg swings slightly outward and finishes by coming back around the front of our body.

Also, the child must realize that in order to create clearance, they must “shorten the length of their leg”. Not easy for an 8 year to understand. However, as shown in Blast The Ball, there are two simple methods to help.

1) Learn the V swing. The V swing is performed by all advanced players in all their kicks. They just don’t realize it. Keeping the knee slightly bent as it swings through, “shortens the leg”.

2) Also, raising the up slightly by lifting at the hip will give good clearance. Leaving the shooting foot flat on the ground, we want the player to point their toe to the ground. However, they must accomplish this by raising their HIP not the leg or knee.

Trying to picture this training in writing is difficult. However, once you see it in action you’ll be amazed at how something so simple can change a soccer player for life.

One of the key points of Blast The Ball is to not let the player start in full motion. They must feel this motion through slow motion exaggerated kicks. This also prevents injuries as well.

The soccer kick. How to kick a soccer ball.

Proper Soccer Ball Kicking
Why “Kick with your laces” can get confusing.

By Coach V – BlastTheBall.com

In previous articles I have discussed how difficult it is to make the transition from the soccer Toe Kick to striking the ball with the Laces or the Sweet Spot. Without a visual explanation / demonstration it is a hard process to teach. What I want to address today is the confusion of just what we mean by the “LACES”.

Every soccer player in the world started out kicking a soccer ball with their toe. If you watch The Evolution of a Soccer Kick on Blast The Ball ™, you will understand why this is our natural striking point. Curing the “bad soccer kick” takes a step by step process. Let’s assume we have moved passed this section and now let’s address what we mean by the “LACES”.

When people talk about the laces they really are referring to two different kinds of kicks. Keep in mind that these kicks are completely different.

The first is the angle / sweet spot kick.

The sweet spot is located just above the big toe. It is the largest bone in your foot and can deliver a FIRM striking point. To kick the soccer ball with the Sweet Spot our foot must approach the ball at a slight angle. To help visualize this consider that your toe / foot is approaching the ball at the 4 O’clock position. This means that as your foot passes through the soccer ball it will be pointed slightly outward and down. This kick is easiest to perform if we are approaching the soccer ball from a slight angle.

The “Angle Kick” or sweet spot kick is probably the most often used kick in soccer. When a player is near mid field and they want to feed in a high ball to a striker or forward, they use an angle / sweet spot kick. It is almost always used on corner kicks.

Next is the straight kick. (Can be seen at Blast The Ball )

It is very hard for players to learn the straight kick if they have been using an angle kick most of their lives. A large percentage of US players can not perform a straight kick with proper form.

Stand upright and place your foot on the ground in front of you. Then hold a soccer ball over your foot. Let it fall and watch where it strikes your foot. It will hit the very top of your foot. This is where you strike the ball with a straight kick.

You strike the soccer ball with the “LACES” in full. Not a PART of them. The laces travel directly towards your target and the foot is not tilted or angled in any way. During the straight kick the leg travels straight back and straight forward. It does not come from behind you or wrap around you in the front after the kick.

To perform the straight soccer kick properly we must allow the knee and thigh continue through the shot. It will often appear as though the knee is going to touch the chest once the kick is completed

The straight kick and striking with the laces / top of your foot is also how we perform a straight volley kick. It is by far the LEAST TAUGHT but most essential kick for any advancing player. It allows for shots to taken in full stride without hesitation and allows a ball that is traveling straight towards you to be kicked quickly and low.

An important aspect of either kick is to maintain a slight “V” angle in your leg through the entire shot and into the follow through.

As you can tell, trying to visualize these kicks can be difficult and hence the creation of Blast The Ball ™ soccer kick video. It is so much easier to train any level of player when they are first SHOWN a visual reference that guides them step by step.

When working on these two kicks it is important to remember we are trying to achieve a complete “reprogramming” of muscle memory and not a light exposure. This means the proper form must be done slowly and over and over.

The two main soccer kicks and the confusion.