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Why You Should Think Twice About Chasing a Scholarship – Gols Video Blog #34: 3/28/2017

Hi Everyone! In this edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, we discuss the trend of Canadian soccer players pursuing athletic scholarships at American colleges and universities, and whether or not this is the best option for their careers (as soccer players and/or beyond soccer). As always please feel free to post your thoughts [...]

By | March 28th, 2017|For Parents|0 Comments

UEFA Champions League Analysis – How NOT to Defend Corners! Gols Video Blog #33: 3/20/2017

Hello Everyone, I hope you are as glad as I am that March Break is finally over! With that out of the way, in this next edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, we analyse the recent UEFA Champions League matches between Real Madrid and Napoli, as well as Borussia Dortmund and Benica, which [...]

By | March 20th, 2017|For Parents, Matches|0 Comments

Coaches – Why You NEED to Start Monitoring Training Load/Intensity NOW – Gols Video Blog #32: 3/14/2017

Hi Everyone, this week in the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, I am discussing the importance of coaches and fitness coaches monitoring the training load and intensity of their training sessions and games.  I also discuss the use of a simple tool, the Borg 0-10 Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale (provided below) which is [...]

By | March 14th, 2017|Fitness, Science, Technology|0 Comments

A 40 Year-Old Solution to a Long-Term Athlete Development Problem?

Last week, I had the pleasure to meet and speak with John Vanderkolk, who is something of a pioneer in Canadian Soccer.  The former Governor and co-founder of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and member of the Heritage Committee of the Ontario Soccer Association has worked for over 40 years in the sport as [...]

By | March 13th, 2017|For Parents, Science|2 Comments

UEFA Champions League Analysis – Defending Principle of "Restraint" – Gols Video Blog #31: 03/06/2017

Hi Everyone, a few more first-leg matches from the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League were played last week, including one between Juventus of Italy and FC Porto of Portugal.  In this edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, we discuss this match and in particular, the plays by Porto's left back Alex [...]

By | March 6th, 2017|For Parents, Matches|4 Comments

UEFA Champions League Analysis – How Benfica Beat Dortmund – Gols Video Bog #30: 2/27/2017

Hello everyone! The UEFA Champions League started up their knockout rounds last week, and that is always something that can put me in a good mood! In this edition o the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Bog, we discuss the game between Benfica and Borussia Dortmund.  While it may have looked as if Benica were outplayed [...]

By | February 27th, 2017|Matches|0 Comments

STOP Finding Excuses Not to Train! Gols Video Blog #29: 2/21/2017

In the past few weeks we have had some bad weather in Toronto, including freezing rain and dozens of centimetres of snow. A consequence of this weather for soccer teams and other training programs like ours was that many people decided not to show up to their regularly scheduled training sessions. In this week's Video [...]

By | February 21st, 2017|Fitness, For Parents|0 Comments

Beware of Charlatans ("Mindset Coaches", "Nutritionists" etc.) Follow-Up Article

Hi everyone.  This post is a follow-up to my Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog from February 13th of this year. I got some responses to the video – positive and negative – and as a result I thought I would elaborate on it with a short article, to try to explain this issue in a [...]

By | February 18th, 2017|For Parents, Science|4 Comments

Beware of Charlatans ("Mindset Coaches", "Nutritionists" etc.) Gols Video Blog #28: 2/13/2017

The internet has been an amazing invention, which has given billions of people all of the world access to information about anything they could possibly want, all with the convenient click of a button. One problem with information available online, however, is that there are not always clear ways to determine whether or not it [...]

By | February 13th, 2017|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Speed Endurance Training – The BEST Way to Train for Soccer-Specific Fitness

Soccer is a sport which requires a unique combination of anaerobic and aerobic fitness. That is, elite level soccer players must possess speed and jumping power, as well as aerobic endurance and recovery, similar to elite track and field athletes. The sport also requires a significant amount of very specific movements, including accelerating/decelerating, cutting and [...]

By | January 23rd, 2017|Fitness, Science|0 Comments