Training in Soccer, Basketball, and Golf

When it comes to sports, technique is most likely the largest determining factor between whether an athlete will be able to play at the professional level or collegiate level. However, just as important as technique is the fitness aspect. If you think of some of the best athletes: Messi, Kobe, or Tiger Woods, they are all built for their sport and all believe that training is just as important as skill. While training is important in all sports, the most effective type of training is not consistent across all sports. When it comes to soccer, basketball, and golf, there are plenty of similarities and differences.

You might think that golf wouldn’t require much training, but you’d be wrong. In the past, it was thought that strength training would hurt your performance because you would lose your touch and feel. This essentially means you wouldn’t be able to accurately place delicate and short shots. The technique has always been a critical part of the game, but over time, this mentality of limited training has changed and some of the best players in the world do excessive amounts of training. While tour pros will say working out every muscle in the body is important, they will all agree that legs, core, and back are among the most important. In the golf swing, most of the power comes from the ground. The legs are used to push off the ground and transfer energy to the clubhead. The more powerful the push, the more power and speed in the swing. The core and back are more for stability but are also integral for power. The core and back help maintain the swing plane, which is essential for consistency. Brayden Ruth, a player on the varsity golf and baseball teams says that “the training between the sports are pretty similar, a baseball swing and a golf swing use a lot of the same muscles. Legs are probably the most important in my opinion.” Resistance and weight training are used to develop these muscles, but not too much to hinder the flexibility and range of motion that is critical for power.

The training for soccer focuses more on technique rather than physical training.  To succeed in soccer at a high level, soccer players need to be able to have incredible passing and dribbling skills. Depending on the position you play the training will vary significantly.  For defense, you are more focused on positioning and winning balls out of the air.  Midfields need to be good at pretty much everything. Passing and dribbling are the most important skills for midfielders to be best at.  Forwards need to have very good dribbling skills and a good shot.  Putting the ball in the back of the net is their only job so it is very important for them to be able to finish the ball.  There are a couple of skills every position should be good at.  Endurance and passing are very important for every position.  Running for 45 minutes straight and then getting a break and running for another 45 minutes will take a toll on you.  Gabe Kerzmann, a player on the Pennridge Varsity Soccer team, says that “awareness is the most important skill to be successful in soccer.  Since it can be used in any aspect of the game.” Awareness goes with soccer intelligence which is also very important to develop. 

Training for basketball is a lot more than just putting the ball in a basket.  Shooting is a huge part of the game, but you don’t need to be that good at shooting to be good at basketball, Shaquille O’Neal is a great example of this. Training for basketball depends on the position the player plays. To be a good point guard they should be able to dribble and pass dimes all across the court. Shooting guards should have a similar skill set to a point guard, but as their name shows they should be better at shooting compared to anyone else on the team.  Power forwards and centers don’t necessarily need to be good at shooting if they are able to get the ball to the rim and be dominant on the rebounds.  Much of the training will be for passing, dribbling, and layups since all positions on the team need to be sufficient at all of those skills.  Endurance is also a key to basketball since the players are constantly running up and down the court. “For our basketball team, we do a lot of running and conditioning,” says Pennridge basketball player Terence Grenda. “We usually practice for two hours, and begin in November, continuing through until usually March,” he added. As you can see, the endurance component of basketball is very similar to that of soccer, while the needed practice to perfect one’s jump shot can be compared to someone needing hours on the golf course perfecting components of their golf game.

At the end of the day, no matter what sport you play, there will always be training involved. It may be more focused towards getting the technique and skills down or it may be more focused on pure athleticism. Whatever it may be the correct training is critical in playing your best and professional players demonstrate this every time they compete.