Soccer Conditioning-Which System Should I Use? The Nervous System.

When reading soccer magazines and related soccer books, all the attention seems to be focused on the various physiological and anatomical components of the human body. This is a very simple outlook on the requirements of soccer. If your serious about your soccer and want to develop to your fullest potential you must base your training methods and development on science. Playing soccer is more than just muscle contractions.

The activities involved in playing soccer depend on the nervous system. Do you believe me? Have you ever stopped and wondered how the muscles used in soccer actually contract and become part of the “human motor system”? When was the last time you read a soccer book that made these bold statements?

Lets make something clear from the start, it does not matter how strong or fast your muscles are, if they are not properly triggered by the nervous system. If your nervous system does not trigger your muscles then it is impossible to carry out soccer actions correctly.

The nervous system is a control system in which decisions are made. Muscles are under the direct command of the nervous system and every human movement depends on the nervous system. Muscles are just used as an aid once your nervous system establishes the soccer objectives. So what does playing soccer really mean? Here’s one definition I’ll give you that you probably never thought of before. “Playing soccer can be regarded as using the brain to solve soccer problems, with the muscles simply serving as a means of putting the solution into practice.”

Players, human beings or the human body is in a state of constant interaction with its environment, people perceive things and act according to their perceptions. Do you agree? Relating this to soccer, a player must recognise situations on the field and react accordingly. Have we got possession of the ball? Where is my direct opponent? Should i shoot or try and pass? These questions must be answered continuously during a soccer match. To understand how this process occurs, lets investigate the nervous system.

Before I get started, the information I’m providing is Scientific and is fact. I will try and keep this simplistic because I do not want to turn this into a science class.

The nervous system is made up of 2 parts, the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS is made up of the nerve fibers that connect the sensory receptors and muscles with the CNS. The brain consists of all sorts of nerve centers, where stimuli acquire significance and can be translated into executive commands to the muscles.

The brain can send information back to the muscles through the spinal cord and the nerve fibers if an activity needs to be carried out in reaction to a certain situation(stimulus). When the signal from the brain reaches the muscle, the muscle contracts and the action is executed.

Thats was quite a mouthful I know. So lets talk about the role of the nervous system in Soccer. Soccer players are confronted with various situations during a game. Before a player can react to a situation he must first become aware of the situation which is also referred to as perception.

Perception is constructed through the use of the eyes. However, perception is more than just sight. A team mate that is out of sight can make it clear to you that he is unmarked. Hearing is therefore another great sense in acquiring information or perception. The sense of touch is also important and allows you to respond to bodily contact when a defender is trying to dispossess you of the ball. The muscles contain sensors that allow us to move and finally there is a sense of balance. Balance is crucial to a soccer player and these sensors provide information about the body’s center of gravity.

So how does the nervous system carry out soccer actions? Once the brain has created a picture of the game or perceived a certain situation, the player reacts by choosing the most suitable solution. The nervous system becomes active and tries to solve this problem.

The brain sends signals to the muscles that need to carry out the soccer action(s). The signals contain information about which muscles need to be contracted, for how long and at what force. It also informs other muscles to keep the body in balance during the execution of the action. The nervous system develops optimal control of the various muscles so that the efficiency of a movement increases. To put it simply

A soccer player is a complex control system, which continuously registers information and processes and uses it to execute soccer actions.

In conclusion to this post, a soccer player depends on his nervous system in everything that he does. The nervous system is the most important facilitating factor in the context of playing soccer. Remember these 2 key points

• Sensory processes enable soccer players to perceive soccer situations.
• Motoric processes enable them to carry out soccer actions.

Playing soccer, training hard and repetitive soccer movements can improve the efficiency of your nervous system. Improved coordination results in a steady increase in the amount of information that is unconsciously processed during the execution of a soccer action. This results in certain soccer actions becoming automatic which allows the player to pay more attention to what is happening around him on the pitch.

So when the books and magazines preach repetition and continuous training, you now know the reasons why. If you’ve just finished reading this, put on the boots and go practice some more. Learn to concentrate on everything you do and the results in the future will speak for themselves.