Is it Valuable for Top Elite Footballers to Adopt a Personal Strength and Conditioning Coach? A Brief Report

Abstract

Background: Some athletes have been particularly adopted personal strength and conditioning coaches during their day to day routines. However, there are no studies about this complementary management. The present study aimed to screen injury incidence, match play, and market value parameters of topelite soccer players during seasons with and without a personal strength and conditioning coach. Methods: Seven topelite footballers of five European clubs (27 ± 2-years-old; 80 ± 8 kg; 185 ± 9 cm) participated. Data were assessed from two seasons: The season before personal coaching (2015/16); and the season after personal coaching (2016/17). It was assessed the number of injuries, days lost due to injuries, number of games, played minutes, goals, goals assistance, and market value. Results: After implementing the personal training interventions, there was an individual decrease in number of injuries (50%) and days lost due to injuries (77%) that was accompanied by increases in the number of games, played minutes, goals, goals assistance, and market value of all athletes. Conclusion: This positive sequence we called "Benefits cycle" since all parameters were concurrently improved. Although it is not possible to establish any causal relationship, the strategy of a personal strength and conditioning coach could be interesting and deserve future scientific caution to help on daily managing the footballers' physical status and prevent injuries.