My name is Martin Leitner and I’m 15 yrs old. In this piece of GCSE PE coursework, the sport I will be using is football. I chose to use this particular sport because I have been playing regular football from a very young age. Over a time period of a number of years have gradually progressed from grass roots football to where I am now which is playing for the under 19s youth team of the league division 3 club Rushden & Diamonds. I play as a central midfielder so I have chosen to focus on this particular position for the entirety of this coursework.
What does being a central midfielder involve? As a central midfielder the main responsibility I have is linking the defence and attack together. There are a number of ways of doing this, from short through passes used to supply the forwards to long forward passes from the edge of my own penalty area for the forwards to chase. It is one of the toughest positions to play because it needs a higher level of fitness than any other position. If a midfielder was fully fit and had a good game they would cover approximately 6400 metres in the first half and 6000 metres in the second half.
28% of this would be walking and 26% would be sprinting, the rest would be jogging at a range of different paces. This is because a central midfielder needs to sit behind the forwards to support them when their team is attacking but also needs to sit infront of the defense and try and regain the ball when their team is defending. So if this is done correctly, a lot of ground has to be covered. In some cases a central midfield player is found overlapping the forwards and making runs from midfield to surprise the other team and also to bring variety to their teams attacking play.
On other occasions a central midfielder is found behind his teams last line of defense if necessary. In most top class football matches, the game is won and lost in midfield. It is true that if your team is winning the ball in midfield then you have a much better chance of winning the game. So the central midfielder always needs to be determined and focused. Types of central midfielder Quite a lot of the time there are two types of centre midfielder. The first type is very big and strong and good at winning the ball in the air and on the ground and also very hard to knock off the ball.
This type of midfielder would play in defensive midfield and mainly help the defense but still go forward occasionally. The other type of midfielder is not necessarily very big and strong but is very agile and creative, good at passing and very skillful. This player would be an attacking midfielder and mainly help the forwards with their play but still get back and help the defense a lot. What do you need to be a good central midfielder? Composure – It is very important to stay composed when on the ball so you can make a good decision on what to do with the ball.
Also it is important to stay composed when you’re infront of goal because if you are not composed you are more likely to scuff your shot and miss. What are my strengths and weaknesses? I feel my strengths in match situations are…. 1. Speed – I am very quick and am good at getting up the pitch to help with forward moves. I am also good at running past players with the ball. 2. Agility – I am extremely agile and am good at ball skills. I am good at taking opponents on because I have very quick feet so I can perform a skill such as a double step over well.
3. Awareness – I am very aware on the pitch and always know where my forwards and wide players are so I can pass the ball to them without hesitation. 4. Vision – I feel I have very good vision because I am good at picking out long balls and playing through passes to my forwards. Also, I am good at assessing where all my team mates are on the pitch before I receive the ball so that when I get the ball I know my options. I feel my weaknesses in match situations are…. 1.
Cardio Vascular Endurance – I need to have a better cardio vascular endurance because sometimes when I’m on one side of the pitch I find it hard to recover and get back into a safe position. 2. Strength – I need to work on my strength because I need to be more physically strong to win more tackles in the centre. 3. Composure – Sometimes I lack composure when I receive the ball and rush my passes so they are not of an as good quality as they should be. Also sometimes I miss chances to score because I precipitate the chance when I could have looked up and picked my spot before I shot.
4. Passing – Sometimes when I have the ball and pass it to someone I either over hit the pass or its not as accurate as it could be. Now that I have examined my strengths and weaknesses in my performance I can try and improve them. In the next stage I will come up with a training program that will help me in these specific areas of my performance. Centre midfielders are needed all over the pitch so they need a bit of everything in their play.