Pre-match warm up to prevent a slow starts to matches?

Tom BeanCoach, England

Hi Paul,

Start your warm-up with a series of dynamic stretches including lunges, squat jumps, high knees etc. Throughout the dynamic stretches, gradually increase the intensity of the exercises so by the end of that part, they are sprinting.

After the dynamic exercises, what is a good idea to get your team together and ready for the start of the game is to get into a tight circle and get them on their toes with `fast feet`. On your call, make them touch the ground with different hands, run out backwards and back in, spin around etc. This not only engages them physically, but also mentally and can be a fun exercise which will get them excited about starting the game.

Go into a football specific warm-up now, with a tight possession game in a corner to get their minds working quickly and getting the ball in and out of their feet quickly. This should get them up to speed with the intensity of the start of the game.

Finish the warm up with a 2 v 1 exercise to get the players comfortable with being in front of goal and to maintain their high heart rates ready for the start of the game.

I hope this helps!

Paul CopeCoach, England

Thanks Tom

We do start with the dynamic stretches and build up to a sprint, but have then tended to go into either a shooting warm up or a passing warm up, but will try adding the dynamic exercises and changing the drills a bit. Many thanks for the advice