Cardiovascular endurance or stamina depends on the ability of the heart and lungs to deliver oxygen to where it is needed. In football, cardiovascular endurance is needed more a lot and you hardly need any muscular endurance. You need a lot of stamina in the game of football because the game lasts for 90 minutes and sometimes more with injury and extra time. This means that your heart and lungs will need to work hard and efficiently to transport oxygen and energy to the working parts of the body.
Together the heart and lungs are known as the cardio respiratory system. The ability of these two systems to keep going for long periods of time under stress is known as cardio respiratory endurance. This determines a person’s aerobic capacity to sustain activities for prolonged periods of time. Other examples of such activities are swimming, long distance running and rowing. Muscular Stamina and Endurance: This is the ability of the muscles to contract over long periods of time. Both cardiovascular stamina and muscular stamina are interrelated, as the muscles need a good, constant supply of oxygen in order to produce the energy for contraction.
Strength Strength is the ability to exert a force on an object as the muscles contract. In football strength is needed to some extent but it isn’t the main factor for optimum performance in the game. You will definitely need some strength to withhold the physical pressure from other players, as it will improve your flair when you play and you will not be brought down to the ground as easily. Also depending on how big and strong you are, you can have a negative mental effect on your opponents, which is a good thing.
There are three different types of strength: Dynamic Strength: Dynamic strength is required to start and maintain a movement. Explosive Strength: Explosive strength is required to move the body or an object quickly. It is also known as power, which is a combination of speed and strength. Due to the short duration of muscle contraction and the high energy output the anaerobic energy systems are used.
Static Strength: This is the strength applied by muscles to a fixed object. Activities such as the tug-of-war are good examples of where static strength is applied. Flexibility Flexibility is the range of movement of a limb around its joint. It may also be referred to as mobility or suppleness. Good flexibility is important to sports people because it helps reduce the chance of injury and allows a full range of movement. Goalkeepers in football need to make miraculous saves to prevent the ball from going over the goal line. Sometimes this requires tremendous amounts of effort but the best keepers make the saves look easy. Diving to make a save is an example of where all the joint’s flexibility plays an important part in the execution of the skill.
Skill related fitness There are five aspects of skill-related fitness that may be applied to everyday life but are generally more sport specific. Agility Agility is the ability to change direction quickly and accurately. There are a number of examples of where agility is applied in sport: dodging an opponent’s tackle and goalkeeping. A striker or an attacking midfielder often makes forward runs into the penalty box. When they dribble the ball with them they will need to a lot of flair but they will also need to change direction quickly to prevent being tackled.
Balance There are two types of balance: Static balance is the ability to hold the body in a position of stillness. Performing a headstand or standing on one leg are examples of static balances. Static balance is not important in the game of football because all the players are constantly moving and have no purpose to remain still. Dynamic balance is the ability to maintain a balanced position while moving. For example, a football player who is very good at dribbling with the ball with speed and flair will need or will have very good dynamic balance. Ryan Giggs, Steve Mcmanaman and Zinedine Zidane are examples of professional players who have a lot of flair whilst dribbling with a ball. They all have good dynamic balance because they do not trip, fall slip while they are running with the ball.
Co-ordination To perform many of the body action sequences in sport co-ordination of limbs and body is important. Footballers with/without the ball need good eye co-ordination. When the footballer is with the ball, they need to pass the ball into a space where their team mates can run into to get away from the person marking them. As for the player without the ball, he/she will need to look for a suitable space to run into but at the same time trying really hard to judge the time of his run so he/se does not get caught offside.
Reactions Reactions are measured in time taken to start the movement, that is, reaction time, and it is the time taken from receiving information to acting on it. There are two types of reaction time. They are simple reaction time and choice reaction time. Simple reaction time is the time taken from the stimulus such as the starting pistol starting a race to pushing off the blocks. The athlete does not have any choices to make. Choice reaction time occurs when the performer has a number of options that can be made in response to the stimulus. For example, during a football match the defender has to decide whether to make the interception of the ball or to make the tackle. Goalkeepers need to have a short choice reaction time but with even more pressure on them than the rest of the outfield players. The time it takes to make the decision is the choice reaction time.
Timing
This is the ability to perform the skill at the exact moment it is needed. In a game of football, timing is very essential. It doesn’t matter what position you play in, the timing has to be precise. For a striker the moment he decides to let go of the ball and try to put it in the back of the oppositions net is important because if he/she releases the ball too early he/she will not have as much time to place the ball if he/she took his time. However if the striker takes too much time to decide where to place the ball, it will be too late as the keeper will come out of his/her line to make the angle shorter or he/she will be tackled.