FC Game Changer

Why do female footballers tear more ACLs? 🤯

Why do female footballers experience ACL injuries at higher rates?

I asked Anthony Martorano of Revitalize Training Solutions, who works with ACL athletes bridging the gap from rehab back to performance.

Tony brought up hormones and the menstrual cycle, including a pattern he’s personally noticed among some of the female athletes he’s worked with.

But this conversation needs nuance.

Research shows female athletes can have higher ACL injury rates, including in soccer, but there isn’t one simple explanation.

Hormonal, anatomical, biomechanical, neuromuscular and sport-related factors can all be part of the discussion.

And research around menstrual-cycle phases and ACL injury risk is still developing.

That’s why conversations like this matter for football training and player development.

Female players, coaches and PTs:

What have you learned about this?

Comment your experience, share this with a footballer, save it, and follow FC Game Changer.

Your bad first touch might not be the problem 👀

Your bad first touch might not actually be a first-touch problem.

Sometimes the ball arrives and you’re trying to solve everything at once.

Where’s the defender?

Where’s the space?

Where’s my teammate?

Can I turn?

Where should my first touch go?

Of course the game feels fast.

Instead, start before the pass reaches you.

Scan. Check the pressure.

Adjust your body. Find the space.

Decide where you want that first touch to take you.

Now your touch has a purpose.

Maybe it escapes pressure.

Maybe it opens the pitch. Maybe it sets up your next pass or attack.

That’s an important part of football training and player development that technical soccer drills alone can miss.

Next session, challenge yourself:

Know where your first touch is going before the ball arrives.

Save this, send it to a teammate, comment what position you play, and follow FC Game Changer.

Your weak foot won’t like exercise #3 👀

Your weak foot might not enjoy exercise #3.

These three dribbling exercises are simple on purpose.

First, use the zigzag pattern with freedom, both feet, different touches, different moves, and creativity.

Second, use the sole of your foot and work on changing your pace as you approach each cone.

Third, challenge your outside-foot touches on both sides.

And no…

I can’t actually confirm Messi did exercise #3 when he started playing.

The bigger lesson is this:

Don’t let your football training stay comfortable.

Once a soccer drill becomes easy, increase the speed, improve the control, use your weaker foot, or add another challenge.

That’s how a simple exercise keeps giving you something to work on.

Which one are you trying first:

1, 2 or 3?

Comment below, save all three, send this to your training partner, and follow FC Game Changer.

Bro Learned Every Skill Except This 😅

More skill moves won’t automatically make you harder to defend.

You can know every stepover, elastico and trick in football, but if nothing you do makes the defender react, what did the move actually accomplish?

That’s why these three soccer drills stay simple:

Body feint.

Slow to fast.

Stop and go.

Each one has the same goal:

Sell the defender one idea, read their reaction, then attack what they give you.

That’s the difference between practicing moves around cones and actually developing your 1v1 dribbling for matches.

Football training shouldn’t only make you look technical.

It should help you solve the problems the game gives you.

Which one do you use most in matches:

Body feint, change of pace, or stop-and-go?

Comment below, save these three, send this to your teammate with 37 skill moves and follow FC Game Changer.

Coach says these touches are “cheating” 🤔

A coach called this the “cheating” way to do keep-ups, and that’s where I disagree.

I understand his point.

Different juggling techniques can challenge different types of ball control, and coaches should absolutely teach players different ways to manipulate the ball.

But telling a young footballer that these touches aren’t helping them?

I don’t like that message.

Let them touch the ball.

Let them juggle.

Let them try different surfaces, chase records, make mistakes, and discover things on their own.

Player development shouldn’t become a constant search for the “perfect” soccer drill or technique.

Sometimes young players need freedom with the football too.

So coaches and players, I genuinely want your opinion:

1,000 of these touches or 100 of his?

Comment which side you’re on, share this with a coach, and follow FC Game Changer for more football conversations.

In 2 minutes, learn our warm-up ⚽️

Coaches, steal this warm-up. Players, study it.

This is phase one of how we start training in a semi-professional football environment.

Before the ball work gets intense, we’re building movement quality, rhythm, range of motion, and activation through simple patterns:

Backpedals, side shuffles, open and close the gate, skips, karaoke, and hamstring/glute work on the ground.

Nothing flashy.

Just a structured football warm-up that gets players moving and prepares them for what comes next.

That’s the part of football training players and coaches sometimes rush.

If you’re an academy player, coach, or someone serious about player development, compare this to how your sessions currently start.

Would you use this warm-up?

Comment below, save it for your next session, share it with a coach or teammate, and follow FC Game Changer for phase two.

Great players look for these 3 things ⚽️

You might be scanning all game and still not actually seeing anything.

Players are constantly told to “scan more,” but that advice is useless if you don’t know what you’re trying to find.

Before the ball reaches you, look for three things:

Pressure. Space. Next option.

Where is the defender?

Where can your first touch take you?

Where is the pass or run you can play next?

That changes the way you receive because you’re not waiting for the ball and then trying to solve everything.

You’ve already started making the decision.

That’s a huge part of football IQ, player development, and becoming more comfortable under pressure.

Try these three cues in your next football training session.

Comment which one you forget most, save this, send it to a teammate, and follow FC Game Changer.