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Soccer Positions

One of the most important things to know about soccer is the positioning of the players. A soccer team is made up of one goal keeper and ten outfield players. These outfield players fill up various positions that are depended on the deployed formation by either the team captain or the coach. These position assign the role that a plays and are the result of the constant evolution of the game of soccer. Some players can play in numerous positions and are known as utility players.

Goalkeeper: A role of goalkeeper is the most specialized one among all the players. The goalkeeper is assigned the task of guarding the goal post of the team. This is the only clearly assigned position according to the laws of the game. They are also the only players that can touch the ball with their hands and wear jerseys that differ from the rest of the team.

Defender: A defender plays behind the midfielders and supports the goalkeeper. They are assigned to move in the half of the field on their side and keep the ball away from the goalkeeper. They are divided into center-back, full-back, sweeper and wingback.

Midfielder: These players occupy the position between the defenders and the strikers. Their main role is to pass the ball from the defenders to the strikers standing close to the opposite team's goal post.

Forward: This is the position nearest to the competing team's goal post. These players are given the responsibility to score goals for the team.

Soccer Field

The soccer fields have standard measurements which are widely used all around the world. These fields, also known as pitches have different dimensions depending upon the age group of the players who play on the pitch. Hence, one can find soccer fields of varying dimensions as the sizes are depending upon the players participating in the game. But one rule which is applicable in all the soccer fields is the field should be rectangular.

When it comes to international matches, the pitch measurements have to be specific and more concise so as to conform to the rules and regulations set forth by the governing body FIFA. The standard size of an international soccer pitch according to the FIFA regulations should be of length ranging from 110 to 120 yards or 100 to 110 meters and a width ranging from 70 to 80 yards or 64 to 75 meters.

The venues hosting non international matches can have a slight variation in its dimensions with the length of about 100 to 130 yards or 91 to 120 meters and a width ranging from 50 to 101 yards or 45 to 91 meters. The soccer pitch should be rectangular in appearance. Generally the pitch surface is made of natural turf or artificial grass, which cushions the falls of players. During the course of a match, the pitch is divided into four zones viz, offensive zone, defensive zone, midfield and goal zone with different number of players posted in each zone.

Warming up before playing soccer

Playing soccer involves a lot of physical activity as the player needs to keep on running most of the time in the football field in order to score a goal for the team or to prevent the other team from scoring a goal over the complete duration of the game. The duration of the game is 90 minutes along with some extra time whenever it is applicable and is divided into two halves of 45 minutes each with a short break in between.

Playing soccer is very good for the physical health of the enthusiasts or players as the much needed physical activity for the body allows the person to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle.

Just like in any other games, practice is very essential for soccer as well. While learning, one should understand the roles of each of the players in the team and learn the various techniques involved in the game. Continuous practice makes them become stronger, wiser and better athletes, but before atarting the practice session or before playing a match the players should be properly warmed up.

There are various warming up exercises or techniques that can be followed which includes the players repeatedly stepping on the football alternating their feet or the players can stand a bit far apart from each other holding the ball and they can slump the ball and then step on the ball to prevent it from bouncing back for few times along with jogging around the football field are some of the warm up exercises which everyone can follow.

Soccer Equipment

Just like any other game, soccer also needs few gears and equipments which are necessary for playing the game. Even though there are no sophisticated gears used in this game, the basic gears are very important for the safety of the players. Some of the gears used in soccer according to the laws of the governing body FIFA include a jersey or a shirt, shorts, stockings, footwear and shin guards.

FIFA makes it mandatory for the players to wear shin guards, since shins are the area which are more prone to get hurt during the course of the game. According to the federation's regulations shin guards used must be manufactured out of a suitable material and should be capable of providing a reasonable degree of protection. The shin guards are generally made out of plastic, rubber or other similar substances.

Most of the clubs and training centers provide their own jerseys and shorts to its members. The colors are selected to avoid confusion with the players from the opposite team while passing the ball.

The next part is choosing soccer cleats or shoes. Even though there are no specific FIFA regulations for the kind of shoes or cleats to be worn during a soccer match, it is preferable to buy a pair of soccer cleats. One should not wear open toe shoes or footwear while playing soccer.

In addition to all these, the goalkeeper gets to wear a pair of gloves. These gloves need to be comfortable and a bit bigger than the hand. One should not forget to buy a football if they want to play soccer.

Soccer Coach

Coaching a soccer camp can be a really great experience; it gives the instructors or the players a chance to impart their knowledge of the game to those who are still learning the game. Coaching the team is not an easy job. It involves a lot of challenges like failures and other misunderstandings between the team members. But these will lead to a disaster later on unless handled properly by making use of few fundamentals of youth soccer coaching.

First of all while preparing or coaching the team, it is very important that the coach as well as the players have a very positive outlook and play the game for the fun and the thrill of the game alone and the coach needs to encourage his team constantly by understanding the team along with its limitation which requires a lot of patience.

A coach also needs to device proper fitness regimes with the drills and practices suitable for the players with respect to their age groups and also needs to impart some basic education regarding the fundamentals of soccer.

While teaching children, the coach should encourage them constantly and also make them understand that it is alright for them to lose few games and then they can pick up their mistakes and work on it to improve and become a better player. An important thing one has to keep in mind while coaching the youth is not to give up on a player soon after few bad spells and encourage him to do well.

Soccer Stadiums

Soccer being the world's most played game; it is bound to enjoy few perks compared to other games. The venues of the soccer matches have undergone drastic changes since the olden days. As the number of people following soccer increases every day and most of the soccer clubs have a huge fan following, the number of spectators who come to watch the matches keeps on increasing and so does the demand for larger venues.

Nowadays, there are many venues coming up with huge seating capacities all over the world. There are generally two types of stadiums which are used to host soccer matches. There are multipurpose stadiums where apart from soccer other sporting events can also be held and the other one is the soccer specific stadiums, these are the stadiums which are designed specifically to host soccer.

There are many big stadiums all over the world with their seating capacities going beyond 100,000 people. The biggest stadium is Rungrado May Day Stadium in North Korea. The surprising part is, the country is not so much into soccer, but their multipurpose May Day stadium capable of hosting soccer events has the seating capacity of 150,000.

Second in the list is the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, India with a capacity of 120,000 which again hosts soccer as well as athletic events. Estadio Azteca Stadium in Mexico is soccer specific and can seat 105,000 people. Australia's Melbourne Cricket Grounds with a capacity of 100,000 and is used by the country's national soccer team and similarly the list goes on.