Soccer Science

Description

A wealth of practical and science-based data about football has been accumulated through the years, but until now it has not been suitably presented to the coaches, players and students of the game who would most benefit from it. Soccer Science, edited by Tony Strudwick, Head of Athletic Performance at Manchester United, fills this void with the best and most current research on the sport. Each topic is addressed by an international expert in a specific facet of the game and every chapter is filled with facts, findings and insights for optimising individual and team soccer performance. The all-star author panel features the world's foremost authorities in football history, biomechanics, physiology, psychology, skill acquisition and coaching, tactical approaches, and performance and match analysis to produce the most significant and comprehensive work ever published about the sport. Offering the right balance of sophistication and accessibility, the significance of the topics covered in Soccer Science will be easily recognised by those with greater knowledge and experience, and also provide valuable insights to those still learning the finer points of the sport.

Tony Strudwick has experience working in national and international performance structures, providing strategic and long-term planning for management of elite athletes. He is head of performance at Manchester United Football Club, a post that involves managing a world-class department of 18 full-time and consultant performance staff members. He manages the short- and long-term strategies of the performance services, ensuring the day-to-day running of the performance department is of the highest professional standard. Recruited by Sir Alex Ferguson, Strudwick developed a research branch of the scientific support strategy intended to further the science department at Manchester United. He helped to shape a state-of-the-art sport science laboratory at the AON Training Complex. Since 2006, Strudwick has been part of a FIFA Club World Cup championship along with Premiership, UEFA Champions League, Carling Cup, and Charity Shield winning teams. He was selected as part of the backroom team of the English F.A. to support the England national team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He has an extensive background in player development structures from elite youth to senior level in both England and the United States. He has completed consultancy work with Nike, Red Bull, Google, AON, and GlaxoSmithKline. Strudwick completed his post-graduate doctoral thesis at Liverpool John Moores University in 2006. In addition, he has a comprehensive background in teaching and lecturing at the graduate level, such as being an F.A. staff teacher for the F.A. Fitness Trainer's course, while also earning a UEFA pro licence, an A licence, and a Youth Coaches Award. Strudwick has held positions with Blackburn Rovers F.C., West Ham United F.C., English F.A., Coventry City F.C., and United Soccer Academy.