For my As level physical education Personal Performance Portfolio I have been asked to design a six-week training program for a sport of my choice from the syllabus. I am going to study football, as this is the sport I am most comfortable with. I feel that if I investigate a sport I know a bit about I will be able to contribute more in the way of information for that particular sport. Most people in sport have their good points and bad points; I am a winger when I play so my best asset is my crossing of the ball. However I am also an excellent passer and I always put one hundred percent effort in to my challenges. I have also been let down this season though. This is because I have had a lot of injuries and have been unable to play to the best of my ability; it has affected my pace when running down the wing in the process.
Throughout this six-week training program I wish to improve the fitness aspect of my game as well as my sprinting speed, as I need to do this to try and become a more complete player. I will then be able to compete at a higher level than I was previously. I am a very sporty person and I am involved in club football for Tornadoes FC, I play at left full back most of the time. I used to play on the left wing but injury troubles decreased my fitness levels so I was no longer able to cope with the high level of the games played. I am also a member of the college team; I am on the fringes of the team at the moment as more injury troubles have kept me out of action for almost 9 weeks. I also take part in the college PE lessons when my state of fitness allows me.
In my area there are a lot of facilities to be used including a swimming pool at Madeley Court School, sports centers in Stirchley and Bridgenorth. There is also the sports center at Lillishall that deals mostly with cricket and gymnastics but used to be the home of the England academy. I think that exercise is an extremely important part in our society, if it is not done a lot of people will be unhealthy, which may lead to more illness around the world. This is why I do a lot of exercise. I do not dislike any aspects of it, as I am usually very fit and can cope with the strain put on my body. My specialty is long distance running, particularly the five thousand meters.
I will now start to explain about the different aspects that I will study during this part of my project.The aspects of fitness I will study during my six-week training program are my cardiovascular carrying ability, as I will need this to improve my oxygen carrying ability, this step will help me achieve this goal. I will also try to improve my agility, because as a winger I need to be quick on my feet and be able to wriggle out of tight situations. The penultimate thing I will look at is my skill, as this is also an asset needed by wingers. Finally I will look at improving my sprint speed, I choose to do this only because I have lost a lot of speed through injury.
Circuit training? Circuit training is a method of training. A circuit usually has 8 to 15 stations, where at each station a different exercise is carried out for a certain amount of time. Circuit training can improve muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, aerobic fitness, muscular strength, speed, flexibility and agility. A circuit-training program may also be designed for a certain sport. Circuits for this purpose will include exercises to improve all the muscles and skills associated with the sport. Example: A training program for football should include skills such as passing, dribbling, shooting and it should also include fitness aspects such as short distance speed as well as long distance endurance.
Principles of Training There are five principles that apply to all fitness training. They are… Specificity My training program is for a football player, and it is based over a six-week period. The exercises I will choose are specifically suited to what is needed to play football. The training is specified for an outfield player, as there are no goalkeeping skills involved in my exercises. My circuit is aimed to improve the following over a six-week period: muscular endurance, muscular strength, speed, agility, cardiovascular endurance, and ball skills. These are all needed for an outfield football player.