Soccer Functional Training® Instructor Course

This course is aimed at Instructors, Athletic Trainers and Motor Education professionals, and to all sports enthusiasts in the broad sense, who intend to acquire specific competences in Functional Training for Physical Preparation specifically directed to Football.

The objective of the course is to train “Soccer Functional Training® Instructors”: figures competent in the field of physical conditioning and functional training specific for Physical Sports Preparation, who are able to correctly teach the exercises with free body and with the most appropriate tools for Athletic Conditioning from among those of Functional Training, and to structure a Periodisation of the training with specific training protocols for the various phases of the football season.

To this end, all the indispensable, fundamental, and appropriate knowledge on the cardinal principles of Soccer Functional Training® will be provided and applied to the increase of the physical performance and to the prevention of injuries in football.
Through the scientific knowledge on the Biomechanical, Conditional, and Coordinative Capacities, and its practical application in the technique of the exercises and in the structuring of the specific protocols of training, with this System of training it is finally possible to increase the Performance of the players while also preserving them from injuries and enabling them to extend their playing careers.

This is the key feature that differentiates Soccer Functional Training® from the traditional systems of Athletic Preparation, which are focused on increasing the physical qualities to the detriment of the functionality of the body and, often, also of the joint and postural health of the athlete.

With Soccer Functional Training®, an initial phase of biomechanical and neuro-motor evaluation of the player is followed by cycles of training classified by biomechanical capacities (levels), physical qualities (Strength, Endurance, Speed, Power, and mixed qualities), and the type of technical role performed on the field.
This enables the identification of the best strategies for each player based on their structural characteristics and initial physical capacities, in order to bring results of increased performance in the conditional and coordinative physical capacities, while contemporaneously improving the Joint Mobility, the postural aspect, and the functionality of the entire body system.
These are the parameters that we consider essential for constructing football players who are winners, but who are also able to move at their best, and to last over time in the best conditions of physical health possible.

What you will learn:

// What differentiates Soccer Functional Training® from the traditional systems of physical conditioning for football;

// The differences between sectoral unidirectional training and multiplanar functional training in kinetic chains;

// The fundamental role of three-dimensional training in the construction of neuro-motor patterns in football;

// What body systems are fundamental for increasing the physical Performance of the player, and how to train them in synergy with each other;

// How Functional Training is decisive in the construction of football players who are fast, explosive, reactive, and resistant, but also healthy and functional;

// What the myofascial chains are, how they function, and how to best use them in the execution of the movement in order to improve the muscular activation and the coordinative and neuro-motor capacities essential in football;

// The importance of Global Joint Mobility in the harmonious posture and in the prevention of injuries in football;

// The fundamental Evaluation Tests that must be made in order to correctly set up a functional training program aimed at athletic conditioning in football, and to evaluate the physical progress made over time;

// How to structure the most effective training strategies based on the level and the role of the player, and on the tactical playing system of the technical coach;

// What progressions must be respected in the development of the programs of training in a seasonal macrocycle starting from the structuring of the single session of training;

// How to best manage the sessions of Soccer Functional Training® with the programming of technical workouts based on the number of weekly competitive commitments;

// A fast and functional Coaching Method that has been put to the test in the field since 2009 by thousands of WTA Coaches and Trainers;
 
// How to use the competences acquired in the sale of Personal Training and Group Training services; 

// What the professional prospects of a WTA Trainer are.  


Index of topics of the Course Program:

• The history of Athletic Conditioning: from its origins to the present day;

• Training Theory in Athletic Conditioning: principles and scientific guidelines;

• Energy Systems and Athletic Conditioning;

• The principles of Soccer Functional Training® from the history of human evolution and of physical conditioning, to the sciences of structure, function, and movement of the human body;

• The applications of Soccer Functional Training® in the athletic conditioning of players following scientific principles;

• The applications of Soccer Functional Training® in the conditioning of the Joint Mobility required in football: Primitive Functional Movement® and Flying Suspension Training for a global dynamic joint mobility that respects the myofascial chains and the multiplanarity of the movements;

• The applications of Soccer Functional Training® in the conditioning of the coordinative physical qualities required in football: developing general and special coordination through global, proprioceptive, and multiplanar exercises;

• The applications of Soccer Functional Training® in the increasing of conditional physical qualities required in football: strength, reactivity, speed, acceleration, power, and speed endurance;

• Overview of applications of Soccer Functional Training® in the prevention of traumas and in the post-traumatic recovery of players;

• The applications of Soccer Functional Training® in Youth Football;

• Scenarios of application of Soccer Functional Training® in the gym and on the field;

• The theoretical and practical applications of the work tools of Soccer Functional Training® with exercises divided by level, purpose, macro-areas, and planes of movement:
- Primitive Functional Movement® (joint mobility and core training in free body neuro-motor sequences executed on the ground);
- Flying Suspension Training (suspension training on unstable supports for training the core and functional force);
- Flowbag Training® (bags filled with water for training the core, joint stabilisation, dynamic proprioception, reactivity, and acceleration);
- Handle Med Ball Training (medicine balls with handles for training the core and the speed);
- Kettlebell Training (cast iron balls with a handle for ballistic exercises aimed at the speed and the power);
- Speed ​​Band Training (elastic resistance bands with a harness for exercising speed through increments of external resistance).

• The Functional Evaluation of the player through Soccer Functional Training®;

• The Periodisation and Programming of Functional Training for Athletic Conditioning in football with the implementation of protocols of work divided by levels, physical qualities, and technical roles on the field, set up on the macrocycle of the competitive sports season with more than 40 different training protocols;

• Effective Coaching of the Soccer Functional Training® System: communication and motivation; 

• Aspects of sales and marketing of services related to the Soccer Functional Training® System.

Online Course: the Soccer Functional Training® Instructor Course is only available Online.

Online Course: once you have purchased the course you can access your own Reserved Area in which you will have the complete course manual viewable in pdf format, the evaluation cards and the training sheets downloadable in pdf, and the video lessons of all of the exercises of the program (more than 160).

Your Reserved Area is equipped with a high information security format.
The only technology you will need in order to consult the teaching material in the Reserved Area is Adobe Reader (for the pdf files).
The teaching materials are compatible with: Microsoft Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android.

After having purchased the course (immediately if paying by credit card or PayPal; after receipt of the confirmation of payment if making the payment by bank transfer), you will receive an email (to the email address you indicate when purchasing the course), with details of how to access your Reserved Area where you will find the course you have purchased.

From that point, you have unlimited access to your Reserved Area. 
You can access it as and when you want and at any time you want to study, then present the exam when you're ready, without deadlines or expiration dates.

In WTA Courses, the exams are a fundamental part of the training process, as they allow both the WTA and the student to verify that they have correctly learnt both the theoretical concepts and the practical technical applications of the work program of the course.

In this way, 4 positive results are obtained:
1) WTA is sure to put only really prepared Trainers in the field;
2) the new Instructor feels confident that they have mastered the program of study and the executive technique of the exercises, therefore they feel ready to work with clients;
3) the clients who turn to a WTA Trainer are guaranteed to find professionals who are extremely competent and able to help them to reach their objectives; 
4) the owners of gyms who employ a WTA Trainer are guaranteed to have professionals who are able to follow their customers in the best way, and to increase the volume of business of their gym.

The exams consist of:
 - theoretical part: in which, through the writing of a thesis on a real case study selected by the student (focussed on a subject who must be one of their clients or themselves), the student demonstrates that they have acquired all of the theoretical principles that lead to the realisation of an effective training program for each specific client (following what has been explained in the course).
 - practical part: in which, through the creation of a video, the student demonstrates that they have mastered the correct executive technique of the base exercises of the course program.
  
The exam is evaluated by a Tutor who is assigned to the aspiring Trainer at the time they present the exam. The Tutor will assist the student to pass the exam, providing any necessary corrections, both of the theoretical and the practical parts.
The common objective of the WTA and of the aspiring Trainer is to bring the training process initiated at the time of enrolling in the course to completion, so as to have a new WTA Trainer who is fully prepared to work in teaching the training Method learnt, in the most effective and efficient way possible!

On passing the exams, the new Trainer will be awarded the coveted certification of Instructor of Soccer Functional Training® that is valid for:

•  inclusion in the prestigious Official Register of WTA Instructors and in the Professional Databank (free of charge);
   
•  attainment of the CSEN/CONI Diploma and Technical Card (with a €100 enrolment fee).

The Soccer Functional Training® Instructor certification entitles students to training credits towards the following Educational Pathways:

• Educational Pathways for WTA Specialisation Qualifications: Soccer Training Specialist - Athletic Training Specialist.
  

On attainment of the Diploma, the Trainer, in addition to receiving the Diploma, is incorporated in the prestigious Official Register of WTA Instructors, within their own region.
This Register, in addition to being the only official document accessible to the public which testifies the real competence of the Trainer, is a true and proper Professional Database which is open both to clients who are looking for a competent Trainer in which to trust, and to the owners of gyms who are looking for Professionals to include in their Instructor Staff.
In fact, the high level of professionalism of the WTA Training, universally recognised since 2009 in all physical fields (from athletic conditioning, to medical gymnastics applications, to purely aesthetic fitness), allows the WTA Trainer to be inserted in any sporting environment in which the functionality of the Movement of the human body is indispensable for the health and efficiency of the person, be they an athlete of a specific sports discipline or a person who wants to recover or improve their state of health and physical form.
To date, the WTA Method, through the great work of over 20,000 Trainers trained since 2009, has been applied with great success in all professional sports, in medical and physiotherapy centres, and in thousands of private and commercial gyms.

In particular, the fields of application in which the WTA Trainer is most in demand are those relating to:

• Conditioning of Joint Mobility, prevention of injuries, and post-traumatic recovery;
• Conditioning of Functional Strength in Sports; 
• High Intensity Functional Training; 
• Increasing biomechanical and neuro-motor skills both for general and specific sports;
• Aesthetic training associated with the improvement of the Posture; 
• Group training for any type of level and target.

What are the pre-requisites for entry to the Course?

There are no pre-requisites, the Course is open to everyone.

Are the Diplomas recognised?

WTA Diplomas are recognised in all the Physical, Sporting, and Rehabilitative fields as a guarantee of professionalism that respects the highest global Standards of Quality, and are also recognised by the European SNAQ/CONI and by the International Olympic Committee through the CSEN/CONI.

What does the exam involve?

The exam involves sending a written thesis for the theoretical part and a video for the practical part.

How much time do I have to present the exam?

There is no deadline for presenting the exam; it depends on how much time you dedicate to the study and to the practice of the exercises after having attended the course, and on when you feel you are ready to take the exam.

If I do not pass the exam, can I repeat it?

When the exam is presented, a Tutor will follow you, assisting you step by step (providing you with all the corrections to improve yourself), to help you pass it. Repeat the exam is completely free. 

By when do I have to register for the Online Course?

You can register for the Online Course at any time. Once you have purchased the Course, you can attend it whenever you choose (according to your own schedule of available time), progressively studying both the Teaching Manual and the Video Tutorials of the practical exercises, and then you can decide when you're ready to take the exam in order to acquire the Instructor certification.

How long does the access to the Reserved Area last, once I have purchased the Course?

Once you have purchased the Course, you are entitled to unlimited access to your Reserved Area of ​​study, without time limits.

On how many devices can I connect the access to my Reserved Area?

For any single purchase of a Course, you can access your Reserved Area from a maximum of two devices of your choice, which can be a PC, tablet, or smartphone.