Liverpool Soccer Training

The Liverpool (England) Football Club (LFC) was formed in 1892 and is among the oldest, most successful and famous professional football--or soccer, as it's known in the U.S.--clubs in the world. According to FIFA, the world governing body for professional and international soccer, the Liverpool club has maintained its status as a domestic and European force among some of the world's most high-profile leagues by winning domestic and European competitions. Much of that success can be attributed to the club's training program.

  1. The Basics

    • Liverpool coaches focus on such soccer basics as dribbling, passing and shooting, as well as strategy and tactics. Team members train in small groups on small fields because it's easier to learn that way than on a full-sized field, according to the Football Association. Kids learn faster because they touch the ball more frequently. Children who are accepted into the youth program at Liverpool get attention from top-rate coaches, using high-tech facilities and equipment.

    Player Recruitment

    • Like other top clubs. Liverpool uses grass-roots programs to attract talented youth from its area. It also scouts other regions to locate and bring in skilled youngsters. LFC also hosts shorter and less-intensive training camps for all young players, not just those hand-picked by the club. There are three-day soccer schools and goalkeeper programs taught by highly-qualified staff. Many of the players aren't as good as those who are invited by the team to its academy, but it's possible that a participant at one of these programs may be spotted by a coach and accepted into the academy full-time.

    The Academy

    • By the late 2000s, few English soccer clubs--including Liverpool FC--were holding tryouts for youth players, according to the Barclays Premier League website. Instead, top clubs were seeking out young talent and training players at their own academies. According to the Premier League, players as young as 8 may register with clubs such as Liverpool FC and get high-qualithy coaching at the team's academy.

    Reserves and First Team

    • Talented players who train hard in Liverpool's academy may make it onto the club's "reserve team"--the second-string squad of players that includes top players returning from injury, new and untested players bought by the club and those hoping to break into the "first team," or starting lineup. But with each step up, the training gets more difficult. A player's job includes staying in optimal physical conditioning through regular cardiovascular and weight training, constantly integrating new tricks and techniques into his game, bonding with teammates and improving as individuals and squad members. The field training is often similar to the drills and scrimmaging that lesser players do regularly, but the intensity is magnified. Each player also has training designed specifically to address his weak points, whether that means learning new skills or positive thinking, or special rehabilitation treatment for an injury. In addition to the team manager, there is an assistant manager and first-team coach, a head of football analysis, several fitness and goalkeeping coaches, reserves coaches, scouts, a club doctor, physiotherapists and sports therapists, a masseur and a kit manager who looks after all the players' uniforms and gear.

    Other Training

    • A state-of-the-art sports and exercise sciences and psychology complex opened in 2010 at Liverpool John Moores University, which house schools of sports and exercise sciences, natural sciences and psychology.
      Longtime team captain Steven Gerrard said the facility promises exciting advances in the study of diet, fitness and injury prevention, areas that he had already seen revolutionized during his professional career.