ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to outline a systematic approach to maintain and develop soccer-specific fitness during significant injury in order to return the athlete to team training and competition while minimizing the risk of re-injury. Developing Return to play (RTP) methodology begins with understanding the problem. The result is a four-phase RTP progression for development of fitness from accommodation during early rehabilitation through team integration. The duration, progression, and prescription of each phase are individualized via methodical development of six components: external load, muscle action, movement plane, cognitive environment, metabolic target and specificity. It stands to acceleration and controlled deceleration, focuses on the player overcoming inertia to generate a rapid acceleration and performing an increasingly rapid deceleration. It focuses on field-based fitness and injury-specific movement development. Additionally, the integration of soccer-specific technical work of progressive complexity and speed, followed by the development of un-anticipated movements, progressing from limited un-anticipated actions towards more complex open un-anticipated actions.
