08 Sep Division 1 Soccer Speed, Strength and Conditioning for Girls Soccer Players
This blog originally published on Girls Soccer Network by Erica:
A lot of girls soccer players want to go D1.
But a lot of them aren’t told the truth about what it physically takes to play at that level.
Hi, I’m Erica. I’m a certified strength and conditioning coach in Tampa Florida who has trained girls soccer players for over 14 years A lot of my girls started with me in middle school and then went on to play at D1 schools like UNC, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, UNC Davidson, University of Maryland, UMBC, Charleston Southern, Brown University, Eastern Carolina, University of Houston, Colorado College, Coastal Carolina, University of South Florida and top 25 D3 schools like Johns Hopkins, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Emory.
I know the strength, speed, and conditioning qualities needed at the D1 soccer level to get playing time, and to stay healthy and injury free from the demands of the college game.
Too, it’s worth mentioning this isn’t just for D1. Top 25 D3 schools like Johns Hopkins, Emory, MIT, Washington University, Messiah, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, University of Chicago, California Luthern, and Swarthmore all require insane speed and strength to compete with the current girls on the roster. Top 25 D3 is extremely competitive.
If you’re a top level ECNL or GA player reading this, your D1 or top D3 college team will be 100x harder than your club team. The girls will be bigger, faster, and stronger, so you have to go in ready to not just survive, but to thrive.
With college rosters being limited, girls in high school need to stand out now more than ever. The reality is, you’re competing against 21+ year-olds who have had years of formal speed and strength training already, so you need to start preparing now.
Because guess what?
At the D1 soccer level, everyone is skilled. Everyone can play the game. Everyone is technically savvy. But not everyone is physically robust going in. Your edge as an incoming college freshman is your speed, strength and elite conditioning.
What to Focus On
This is going to shock you, but prepping for D1 soccer isn’t complicated, nor does it require you to get all fancy pants and do a revolutionary training program.
This isn’t sexy, but you need to master the fundamentals of strength and speed training, and continue to progress over a long period of time.
Something else that might shock you: in D1 college weight rooms, they’re also doing simple. They’re performing the main strength lifts, such as back squats, front squats, hex bar deadlifts, barbell RDLs, split squats, reverse lunges, pull-ups, bench press, and push-ups. It’s your job to not only be competent in these strength lifts, but to be able to lift heavy before going into college.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON GIRLS SOCCER NETWORK HERE
Erica Mulholland is a former college 3x All-American soccer player and now Hall of Famer from Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Master of Science in Exercise Science and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, who has been helping female athletes of all sports with speed, agility, strength, power, and conditioning for 14 years. She is also the author of the best-selling book Female Athlete High Performance.
Work with Erica in Lutz Florida for speed, agility, and strength training: BOOK ASSESSMENT HERE
Work with Erica remotely: BOOK CONSULT HERE
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