Soccer is among the most demanding types of sports globally. More than just the ambition to become great in the game, soccer players need a wide range of subtle skills grouped into 4 major categories: technique, physical fitness, game intelligence, and proper mindset.
Of all the key attributes that make a successful soccer player, sound decision-making skills, quick reflexes and reaction times, fitness, and multi-directional agility are perhaps the most crucial.
To perfect these abilities, most soccer coaches and trainers are now embracing the use of reflex light-based soccer training lights, like the ubiquitous Blazepod Flash Reflex Training System.
As the name suggests, a flash reflex training system uses light cues to work players’ reaction time, speed, attentiveness, and agility. It comprises a series of Bluetooth-enabled, touch-sensitive pods and the Blazepod App (available for iOS and Android operating systems).
The Blazepod App comes with a ton of preloaded exercise drills categorized into specific sports like soccer, racquet games, martial arts, and basketball. This soccer coaching drills app also allows you to upload your custom-designed workout activities.
The pods themselves are engineered to take a beating. You can whack, kick, and step on them; they are smashproof. Importantly, these soccer lights training pods have an IP65 water-resistance rating allowing you to use them indoors and outdoors.
Several studies have been conducted to investigate the reliability of reaction light training systems like Blazepod. Most of them, including this study in the Journal of Education and Training Studies, agree that light training effectively improves reaction speed and agility-quickness.
Here is a rundown of how Blazepod Flash Reflex Light improves your players’ performance:
- Goalkeepers - Blazepod helps in improving your goalkeeper’s reaction time by working on their reflexes. Reflex is all about accurately judging the ball’s speed and flight to make quick decisions on whether to jump or dive to make the save.
- Defenders - these lights heighten your defenders’ attention skills and ability to read the game and intercept offensive players.
- Midfielders - the Blazepod App has exercises that focus on increasing your midfielders’ game intelligence and efficiency on the pitch. You can use a series of these exercises to train them to find space, control, pass, shoot, and run with the ball.
- Strikers - you’ll also find a variety of pre-programmed techniques that sharpen your shooter’s decision-making skills, explosiveness, speed, and reaction time.