Traditionally, a training session has a focus of either fitness or sport specific.

A fitness focus would be a session where the athlete is looking to improve their physical performance such as going for a run or training in the gym.

A sport specific session would be a session where soccer is the focus. Such as attending a practice, shooting on a goal, playing in a scrimmage etc.

If an athlete goes for a run they are focusing on their cardiovascular system and improving their ability to run. They are not improving their ability to perform soccer actions, and they are not improving their ability to maintain those soccer actions throughout a match.

When participating in a sport specific session, an athlete generally does not have control of which physical performance aspects are getting training. There will be adaptations in their cardio system, in their speed, agility, power etc, but largely they do not have control over which ones.

In a Match-Fit session we combine these two session types and carefully craft a workout to focus on BOTH an athletes physical performance in targeted areas, and their technical ability throughout the session.

The typical thought when talking about athletes is the physical qualities they possess, and the goal of increasing these abilities. Can we make an athlete bigger, faster, stronger?

The problem here, is that most of the time, an athletes physical qualities is not what holds them back, but instead, how they apply these qualities to a given situation.

An average run in a soccer game lasts 5-10 yards. A player who has a faster 10 yard sprint time will not always get to a ball or an area first in a soccer match. Instead, the player who moves first, or takes a better angle, or cuts off the other player etc. will have the advantage. This brings us to the idea of soccer specific qualities.

In order to train my speed for a soccer game, am I better off training outside of a soccer context? Or inside? Our belief is that by training inside a soccer context, we can learn to apply our body more efficiently, and improve physical qualities in a more effective way.

Match-Fit gives us a controlled environment to do that.

Every athlete has had the moment where they have a mental lapse and it leads to a mistake, or an opportunity for the other team. As you get more physically fatigued, it becomes harder to stay mentally engaged, make the correct decisions, and make decisions in a timely manner. A fraction of a second can be the difference between a goal being scored.

With Match-Fit we can provide athletes with multitudes of decisions while in a physically fatigued state to allow them to practice for these moments. What run should I make, which pass should I play, etc.

Youth athletes have a lot going on with school, lifestyle, club training sessions, and other activities. This makes it very difficult to find time for extra physical training and more importantly, finding time to play more soccer and love the game. Match-Fit allows them to enjoy the workout, and cut down on the number of total sessions in a week by combining the physical and the technical.

Most players can execute a task when they are well rested and have time to do so. It is how they can maintain their quality during physically and mentally exhausting moments throughout a match that sets athletes apart.

Soccer is a skill sport that becomes for difficult as your physical fatigue increases. Match-Fit is designed to place athletes in these scenarios and teach them how to take a breath, make a decision and execute that decision while under physical fatigue that is present throughout a match.

This is a feature that is missed in activities such as a run or a gym session. There is no demand for technical execution.

Match-Fit turns a session into a game. How well can I be in the correct zones? How well can I maintain my quality? This creates a fun and productive environment for athletes to work on their fitness.