The importance of flexibility in soccer

Sports & Recreations April 11, 2017 , by admin Comments Off

When you talk about flexibility, very few people realize how important it is for sports. Flexibility is more than just exploring wider ranges of motion. Instead, it is about the ability to use power through the entire range motion of a joint. This sort of mobility reduces injury and improves performance in all the fine motor skills required for typical soccer skills. Also, you will see improvements in agility.

Here are three types of flexibility:

Static active flexibility

Static active flexibility is the ability to stretch an antagonistic muscle using only the tension within the agonist’s muscle. The perfect example is holding out your leg out in front of you as straight as possible. In this example, you are stretching the hamstring muscle with the strength of quads and hip flexors.

Static passive flexibility

This form of flexibility is the ability to execute and hold a stretch using your body weight or an external force. The example for this would be the same as the above, except that you would rest your leg on a chair which supports the leg.

Dynamic flexibility

This type of flexibility is the most important for a soccer player. It is the ability to move a joint through the full range of motion with power. The typical example is to swing a leg back and forth, which is the same as a kick.

Improving dynamic flexibility for a soccer player takes time and requires both patience and discipline. Given enough time, a player should be able to attain the full range of motion.