Good quality football boots, comfortable sportswear or a ball – these are the most recognizable accessories of every football player. What gadgets are less obvious, but equally useful?
For an outsider, a soccer match is 90 minutes (2 × 45 minutes) spent by the football teams on the pitch. The average person (soccer fans don’t fall into this category) doesn’t bother with what soccer training looks like. The imagination suggests that boys (or girls, as the sport is becoming increasingly popular among women as well) run around a bit during training, stretch, or practice the regular parts of the game. It turns out, however, that in addition to the typical strength training, which builds stamina and endurance, and shapes the precision of specific plays, no less demanding is the theoretical training, during which the tactics of the match are broken down to the first factors.
At this point, it is time to mention the first item on the list of some not-so-obvious soccer accessories, namely the soccer tactics board. Depending on your needs, it can come in a variety of sizes, although the most common size is a 90 x 60 cm board that is mounted to the wall – perfect for small soccer clubs. With its help, the strategy can be planned in detail and practiced in theory with the players, whether during training or right before a match, when the team concentrates in the locker room. This gadget is helpful in the work of a coach, and with its help it is easier for the whole team to imagine the instructions given by the training staff. It is possible to write on the board with washable markers and magnets are also useful.
In addition to training (tactical and physical), a properly planned and balanced diet, including all meals consumed during the day, is an extremely important element shaping the player and his form. Professional footballers have their own dieticians, who make sure that the players’ bodies receive a set of vitamins and nutrients every day. The diet should be balanced to take into account the intense physical effort during training and periods of recovery.
Footballers playing amateur must take care of a proper diet on their own. It is worth mentioning another gadget which is not at all obvious but can be very helpful. The meal planner allows you to grasp the complicated issue of nutrition. When it comes to creating a diet, it is also very useful to have the support of an experienced dietician. It is good to take his advice, but remember that the greatest responsibility rests on us anyway.
A meal planner makes it easier to write down the nutritional content of individual meals, as well as the time of their intake. There should also be space for notes on minor dietary sins, so that at the end of the week you have a complete picture of what your diet was like and whether you achieved your calorie balance.
The traditional water bottle is a rather common gadget. More unobvious, but increasingly popular among athletes of all types (including football players), is a water filtering bottle. Thanks to a specialized filter, it allows you to always have a decent water to drink at hand. You do not have to worry about making it to the store before the training. Just pour tap water into the bottle and you are done! The cost of buying a bottle fluctuates around several dozen PLN. You need to change the filter from time to time so that the water is always clean.
The greater the body’s need for fresh water, the faster the expense will pay for itself, and it is worth remembering that during intensive training, every football player excretes a lot of fluid in the form of sweat, so the resulting deficit should be replenished as soon as possible. Dehydration of the body can lead to serious health complications. The first symptom, in addition to increased thirst, is dizziness. If you regularly replenish your fluids, this problem will no longer occur!
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