At RIASA, we’re big believers of ‘practice makes perfect’ and by practice we mean putting in the hard work on the training ground, even when it might not be going your way. These specially selected videos were hand-crafted by our coaches and delivered to RIASA student-athletes at one point or another – watch them, repeat them, live by them, and you’ll see improvements in your technique and understanding of the game.
Pre-season, off-season and in-between, every soccer player needs to keep in shape. At RIASA we put a lot of emphasis on S&C, and we regularly have specific sessions which are focused on this element of the game – it’s not just about being strong or fit, we need you to be able to have ability, sharpness and be focused on everything you do.
No matter what position you play on the soccer field, you can always benefit from shooting drills and close coaching around technically performing better when shooting (over recent years, we have even seen goalkeepers become more involved with PK shoot-outs). During this video, Ex England U19 & 20 coach Martin Hunter provides a full session on fast counter-attacking shooting. For some elements of these drills you will need a larger group, but for most of it, picking out his advice and practising the smaller 1v1 situations can help you grow in this area.
Stopping crosses can help reduce balls into dangerous areas, which hopefully should amount up to helping you secure more wins overall. Defending is a vital skill no matter what your position on the field. During this session, RIASA Head Coach Gareth Prendergast delivers a session based on stopping wide crosses into the box. You’ll be able to see the starting position, how to close down your opponent and when to make the block.
Another fitness related session, you’ll see looking through these 10 videos that fitness, agility, sharpness and focus plays a huge part of our programme here at RIASA in the UK. Take this test for instance, it’s one of the leading fitness tests which all professional clubs including the top tier Premier League teams are under-taking to improve their fitness on the field. This new style test combats the traditional ‘bleep test’ and is more accurate for soccer players, you just need some cones, a large space and a stopwatch to try this one out.
Ross Turnbull doesn’t need an introduction. The ex Chelsea, Leeds United and Middlesbrough man made over 150 professional appearances during his career inside the two posts. This session is specifically for goalkeepers who want to learn more about technique, handling and hear some great advice from Ross. At RIASA we regularly try and bring guest coaches in to make sure we stay on trend and bring you real playing experiences that can help your game explode.
This video is more of an inspirational piece rather than training advice. We selected candidates who have gone on to successfully either play professionally or secure a position within the footballing industry. On this episode, we spoke to RIASA graduate Christian Eissele, who played professionally in Europe and back home in the USL. This video will give you insight into how RIASA helped Christian and how he managed to navigate his way to the top during his career.
A few seasons ago, we mic’d up our head coach during one of his training sessions. This video shows you the level of passion and commitment that Gareth has for player development. During the video, he runs through possession based drills and counter attacking play – it’s spectacular to hear every word clearly during this coaching session.
This is one for the offensive players! You can never get enough shooting practice and this drill in particular focuses on first time shooting positions with your strong and weak foot. These drills are combined with other very high intensity counter attacking drills in which we coach how to build up play and eventually hopefully score a lot of goals!
More strength & conditioning! This video is definitely worth watching as the core focus here is to improve sharpness, agility and mobility – basically making you quicker, faster and being able to stretch further which is needed in every position on the field. This session is superbly positioned for student-athletes who are looking to advance their game in all departments.
OK, so this video isn’t a training one, but after watching all the others, we think you might be interested in who we are. RIASA is the world’s only college soccer programme offering a dual accredited US/UK degree alongside a challenging and rewarding 9-month soccer season – yes, the world’s only! Watch our brand video and hear our story. We athletically and academically develop you into the player you want to be – RIASA is waiting for you.
See Men’s Undergraduate Soccer programme
See Women’s Undergraduate Soccer programme