Certificate in Youth Soccer Athletic Development (LTAD)

Delivered by Professor Darren Paul

In this lecture we’ll be looking at the justifications and key considerations of testing in Youth Soccer. We will look at the role of testing before considering the advantages and disadvantages of testing in youth soccer and the impacts affecting the testing outcomes within these age categories. We will then look at how we can performance profile and we will identify the key considerations for youth testingin soccer.

Delivered by Professor Hassane Zouhal

In this lecture we will explore soccer activity analysis and demands. We will look at the morphological profiles of soccer players from a range of countries and backgrounds. We will then look at elite youth profiling and professional successes. Finally, we will look at the physiological profiling of successful players.

Delivered by Hamish Munro

In this lecture we discuss the importance of strength development for junior and senior players, how we can plot the methodology across training cycles. How we structure the strength development phase across the athletic journey across the academy based player. We then discuss the Growth, maturation & the impact of youth player conditioning. Finally, we’ll discuss the application of strength training across the academy journey.

Delivered by Tsikakis Antonios

In this lecture, the first of a 2-part series, we start by looking at what long-term athletic development is from a soccer specific perspective. We’ll discuss growth & specific stages of maturation within an elite academy environment. Well discuss the windows of opportunity & age related effects of training. Finally, we’ll look at & bio-banding & maturity assessment within an elite soccer academy

Delivered by Jack Christopher

In the lecture, we look at how to build a nutritional support structure. We’ll look at nutritional support across the development phases and how it can have a positive impact. We’ll look at understanding core principles & the basis of sporting nutrition. Then we’ll move on to how we ca support the growth & maturation through nutrition principles. Finally, we’ll discuss nutrition for life so that you have a better understanding of key nutritional strategies.

Delivered by Alex Segovia Vilchez

This lecture looks at the physical qualities of youth soccer and understanding the whole picture, the physical integration & coordinative development. Then we’ll look at skill acquisition – the learning process. Finally, we’ll look at the training components – piece by piece.

Delivered by Tsikakis Antonios

This lecture is part 2 of the long-term athletic development strategy. We’ll look at long-term development planning, the physiological components of the LTAD model. Then we’ll move on to developmental training, focusing on endurance, strength and speed. We’ll move on to coordination development & principles before looking at the developmental stages & guidelines for progression.

Delivered by Alex Segovia Vilchez

In this lecture, we’ll look at understanding a new physical qualities approach and the importance of functional training. Then we’ll look at the application of conditioning drills within an applied skill acquisition framework. Finally we’ll look at coaching development processes.

Delivered by Jack Christopher

This lecture starts off by defining Velocity Based Training & its practical use. Then we’ll look at using VBT to improve training and performance outcomes. The benefits of Velocity Based Training in developmental soccer. Then we’ll look at the practical application of VBT across long-term athletic development academy stages.

Delivered by Hamish Munro

In this lecture, we’ll look at a tactical periodisation overview within youth and senior applications. The development & alignment of training processes. We’ll look at integrating physical & tactical periodisation in youth development and finally we’ll discuss the considerations of tactical periodisation in youth soccer.