Certificate in Youth Soccer Athletic Development LTAD

• Led by Professor Darren Paul.
• Justifications and key considerations of testing in youth soccer.
• The role of testing in youth soccer.
• Advantages and disadvantages of testing in youth soccer.
• Impacts affecting the testing outcomes within these age categories.
• How can we performance profile and identify key considerations for youth testing.

• Led by Professor Hassane Zouhal.
• The morphological profiles of soccer players from a range of countries and backgrounds.
• Elite youth profiling and professional successes.
• Physiological profiling of successful players.

• Led by Hamish Munro.
• Importance of strength development for junior and senior players. 
• How to plot the methodology across training cycles.
• How to structure the strength development phase across the athletic journey of an academy-based player.
• Growth, maturation, and the impact of youth player conditioning.
• The application of strength training across the academy journey.

• Led by Tsikakis Antonios.
• What is long-term athletic development from a soccer specific perspective?
• Growth and specific stages of maturation within an elite academy environment.
• Windows of opportunity and age-related effects of training.
• Bio-banding and maturity assessment within an elite soccer academy.

• Led by Jack Christopher.
• Building a nutritional support structure.
• Nutritional support across the development phases and how it can have a positive impact.
• Core principles and the basis of sporting nutrition.
• Supporting the growth and maturation through nutrition principles.
• Nutrition for life and providing an understanding of key nutritional strategies.

• Led by Alex Segovia Vilchez.
• Physical qualities of youth soccer and understanding the whole picture.
• The physical integration and coordinative development.
• Skill acquisition – the learning process.
• Training components – piece by piece. 

• Led by Tsikakis Antonios.
• Long-term development planning.
• The physiological components of the LTAD model.
• Developmental training – focussing on endurance, strength and speed.
• Coordination development and principles.
• Developmental stages and guidelines for progression.

• Led by Alex Segovia Vilchez.
• New physical qualities approach and the importance of functional training.
• Application of conditioning drills within an applied skill acquisition framework.
• Coaching development processes. 

• Led by Jack Christopher.
• Defining VBT and its practical use.
• Using VBT to improve training and performance outcomes.
• Benefits of VBT in developmental soccer. 
• Practical application of VBT across long-term athletic development across academy stages.

• Led by Hamish Munro.
• Tactical periodisation overview within youth and senior applications.
• Development and alignment of training processes.
• Integrating physical and tactical periodisation in youth development.
• Considerations of tactical periodisation in youth soccer.

• Led by Dr. Alejandro Romero-Caballero.
• The youth physical development model. 
• The effects of early specialisation and diversification.
• Soccer training in pre-pubescent players.
• Developing a game model in youth development stages.
• Developing the athletic qualities of youth players by bringing all of these development processes together.

• Led by Tanja Simone Ecken.
• Understanding the academy to first team transition phase.
• Physiological demands of making the step up to the first team.
• Coping strategies associated with the bridge between the academy and the first team.
• Supporting the demands and pressure moving forwards.
• The perception of the transition, coaching style and self-reflection.

Once enrolled, you have six months to complete your studies.

You will study this course by distance learning, which will enable you to learn when and where you want. You can study from home or at work, it is completely up to you. All your materials will be delivered online.

Upon successful completion of the course, you will achieve a Certificate in Youth Soccer Athletic Development.

You will complete eight individual tasks which are based on what you have studied during the 12 modules. You will submit your assignments via the learning portal and receive feedback from a member of the team.