Off Season maintenance Training

It doesn’t take much effort or discipline, it depends how serious you are, about being the Best you can be.

One of the sad things about being fit is that if you do nothing you become unfit very rapidly.

Hence the old saying “if you don’t use it you lose it”.

In the four week period (festive season) it would be quite possible to lose significant amount of your fitness and condition.

Fortunately a small amount of training can maintain much of your conditioning.

One or two weight sessions per week or two thirty minute aerobic sessions (running, cycling, swimming, boxing) should ensure that you start pre season at a higher level than in previous years.

Don’t waste the off season and then make excuses.

Idea, go to previous article: Pre Season training Ideas

Worthwhile read for sports people to look within. Apply the lessons learnt to your pre season training.

Prepared by Patsy Tremayne , Sports Psychologist.

Running a marathon is an incredible personal challenge - not only is it a physical challenge, but it’s a challenge for the mind. There are virtually hours when you have time to think and to control, or be controlled by your thoughts.

Any prolonged running can stimulate self-understanding, and feelings can run the gamut from despair or agony or tremendous joy and elation. Running gives one time to mull over problems, work out the day’s schedule, or let loose on fantasies, memories and insights. It’s no wonder, then, that so many people like to run !

However, to run marathons successfully, it’s important to control those thought processes and to implement various psychological strategies. In the weeks before a marathon become familiar with your own behaviour patterns and how your body feels during practice runs .Learn to know what feels right for you and what works or doesn’t work for you. Test yourself with new tactics or new coping procedures while out on training runs. If you normally slog slowly up a long hill with your mind occupied, imagine that a giant hand is behind pushing you up the hill. See if that works for you. Get to know what keeps you motivated when you’re on long training runs, and you’re getting tired and want to go home .

Remember your best and your worst runs .What factors made them good or bad? Did the weather, your thoughts, or your sleeping habits playa part? How did the different running conditions affect you - rain, a strong head wind, traffic, dogs, other runners, spectators? If you can analyse all these behaviour patterns and know which coping strategies work for you, in many different situations, then you’re going to be in positive control of your thoughts during the marathon, and are likely to run to the best of your ability.

Focus in on your body during training runs. Listen to your breathing and to your heart rate. Concentrate on your focus on pace, and rhythm. Focus in on your muscles, and relax the ones that aren’t working .Learn to read your body’s signals so that you can either avoid over-extending yourself or prevent holding back too much .

Another thought of psychological preparation that can be most effective is to visualise running along various sections of the course. You need to be in a relaxed position to do this, and it’s important to take the same length of time to visualise running as it would to physically run the distance. One can either visualise using a coping strategy because something has gone wrong, or one can visualise performing perfectly. If you use a coping procedure and imagine that you’ve suddenly cramped up, or you have lost pace and foI1owing, then you mentally practise what you think would be the best approach to take if such an event actually occurred during the race.

This sort of imagining can give you a sense of being able to cope with the unexpected if and when it occurs. It can be valuable to a distance runner since often during an endurance run, race strategies need to be changed. By employing coping strategies and mentally practising various reponses to unplanned developments, you’re in a far better position to deal with adverse circumstances. But this mental imagery has to be practised regularly to be effective. Before the marathon become familiar with the course.

It’s a good idea to divide the course up into workable segments. One can segment according to the distance or the number of drink stations. Runners could also segment by fixing their gaze on a distant building or landmark, and gradually readjust as the stationary mark is approached. Develop strategies and goals for each segment. Make your goals challenging yet realistic, so that at least some of your goals are achieved during the marathon. Tell your friends you’re running in the marathon, and let them know your goals. By making a public statement to certain goals you’re more strongly motivated to succeed.

On the day of the big race concentrate on achieving the goals you’ve set for that first segment. Check your body periodically to see how you feel, that you’re staying loose, and that pace and form are okay. Be prepared to adjust your goals up or down depending on race conditions and how you’re feeling. At the end of that first segment tell yourself you’re doing just fine, and give yourself some encouragement. Do this for each segment of the race. If at any stage you don’t quite meet your goals then use your coping and recovery procedures that were developed during your training runs over the next segment. Maybe one of your strategies could be to have friends posted at various sections of the course where you think the going will be hard, to talk and give you some encouragement along the way.

Be mentally prepared to deal with pain. Any athlete stretching towards the limits of his or her endurance is going to have to cope with pain. The first step in preparing to deal with pain is to determine where the pain is coming from so you know how severe it could eventually be. If it feels serious, like a chest pain, an ankle sprain or a muscle tear, then it’ s wise to stop to avoid permanent injury .There are always other marathons. If, however, it’ s muscle fatigue, sore feet, or blisters, then you need to develop a strategy to cope with the discomfort.

Top runners often try to get absorbed in pain. They focus on the sensation, really try to feel it, where it is, what it is, and why. They think about the pain’s shape, colour, intensity , whether it is sharp or dull, in one place or spread out. They focus in so closely that they become detached from the pain - as though it’s somebody else who is hurting, not them.

Sometimes focusing in on running form may cope with the pain. If it is a specific muscle that is hurting, then it may help to adjust stride and rhythm. Or maybe try relaxing and loosening up, or concentrating on tactics to over- take the runner ahead. Another common strategy for runners is to try and divert attention completely away from the pain by thinking of a math problem. Another way to take one’s focus off the pain is to pinch a finger or thumb for a couple of minutes and concentrate on that particular sensation.

With all these strategies, you’re trying to either divert your thoughts from pain or to think about pain in a different way. You may not get rid of the pain, but it will tend to fade into the background .

You will run in the marathon the way you have conditioned yourself to run in training. To prepare yourself for the big day you need to try out many strategies and coping responses by simulating performance conditions as much as possible. Therefore, in practice runs concentrate on form and pace, check your body signals regularly, and give yourself lots of encouragement and reinforcement. Imagine yourself loping along like a graceful animal. Run when tired and try out all your self-motivating strategies. Practise overcoming pain and find the best method for you. Think of any problems which could arise during the marathon. Figure out a way to simulate it in practice runs and learn to cope with it. All this preparation will help you to believe in yourself, and to get to that finish line in a way that makes you feel in control, fulfilled, and keen to run yet another marathon.

Pre Season Training Session

Training especially prior to Christmas must be fun and include variation. It is always easier in terms of motivation and also for the best results to train with a mate or a group of mates. Although at your footy club you will most likely be training twice a week leading up to Christmas, it is important that you are doing extra training sessions.

There is always an expectation that you have a sound fitness base when you return in Jan/Feb, so that you can cope with the demands expected of you at training. Be mindful of training hard but also training smart.

Your aim prior to Christmas should be working on and building a solid fitness base. This can be achieved through various activities.

Always remember to record what training you are doing, keeping a record of times and results that you are achieving.

Record:

• Distance and times

• Weight at the start of your training

• Heart rate (pulse) before and after training, monitoring your recovery rate

Keeping these records will show how you are improving your fitness, great to look at after a serious session.

The following will provide you with ideas in formulating a training program for you or the team.

Running

• Short and long distance
• Aiming for quality (technique) not plodding for 5 — 8 km
• Sprint work such as 5 x 50m, 5 x 75m, 5 x 100m in a session
• Fartlek running is beneficial especially running a distance 5/8 km
• Agility running and changing direction
• Shuttle runs
• Run a golf course tee to green (recover) tee to green
• Hill running
• Try to run on grass as much as possible, (oval golf course, running track)

Weights

• Work on leg strength as a priority
• Work on upper body
• Work to tone your body
• Train with a partner

Circuit Training

• A great method of working on your strength, endurance and power
• Stations could include chin ups, squats, medicine ball, punching bag,step ups various weight exercises, shuttle runs. etc
• Include one minute ball drills (refer to shortball drills)

Swimming

• Takes pressure off legs
• Water running (with belt) for fitness 30secs on 30 secs off
• Swimming for upper body fitness (cardiovascular)
• Great for relaxation and recovery

Bike Riding

• Great for the legs
• Takes the stress off the body as you wont be pounding the hard roads
• Create course with hills and flat roads (Safety is a priority)
• Bike and run (partner) one rides, one runs, rider completes certain distance then runs, runner keeps a watchful eye for his partners bike, then rides. Players continue to swap with one another.

Skills

It is important to handle the ball as much as possible

• Basic skill work with a mate.
• Short kicking (to a target)
• Handball drills
• Marking (focus)
• Working and concentrating with a focus on Technique

Continue to work on your strengths, your weakness, your discipline, making your actions a natural part of your football  life.

ideas-for-team-rules.pps

Variations

Interestingly each team that reaches finals will arrive there a different way. You may have a dominant team in the competition that wins enough early games to ensure that it will participate. This coach can afford to relax players, then work them harder in the weeks leading up to the finals (even be prepared to drop a game because of the harder training) to ensure that they are fit enough to handle the rigors of finals football. The contrast of this is the club that struggles to win early games through poor form or injuries and has to play each of the last few weeks as though it is a final, just to win enough games to reach the business end of the year. This team will be match hardened but may not have been able to rest players to freshen them up and may have even had to risk further injury to key players, because they needed them in the team to win the required amount of games.

History

History has shown that a lot of teams that do well early develop lazy habits and do just enough to win each week. Sides that have to fight hard to win a spot in the finals are normally very focused and committed to each other as they have had to work so hard against the odds without a guarantee of getting the opportunity of playing in the finals. How would you handle each of these scenarios if you were coaching either of these teams? The other interesting observation I have noted is just how many teams that have dominated the home and away season, then gone on to win the second semi final, only to play poorly in the most important game of the year. Is it bad luck? Poor preparation? Is it lack of matches? Complacency? Panic? Or through sheer opposition pressure a change of the game plan? There are many situations when I have been a coach in these scenarios where I have had to ask myself these very questions. The easy answer, which in most situations is wrong, is to say, “I would not have changed anything. Our preparation was very good”. It may have been good, but it can always be better.

Planning

Be prepared to plan ahead on the possibility that your team is good enough to play finals football. You plan for it preseason before a game is played and it is important to continue planning for it during the season while it is mathematically possible. Keep thinking ahead to the coming weeks. Watch your players closely at training. Are they training well? Is there genuine enthusiasm amongst the group? Do they look like they are ready to play finals football if it presented itself tomorrow? Keep asking yourself these questions and making sure that the answer is yes. If it is not, you may need to pick up the signs early and restructure training and support your players (freshen them up) as they may have doubts about their ability or be feeling the pressure of expectation. A good coach can solve these problems if he is prepared to be supportive and flexible. Remember that all coaches live and die by the performances of each player. Be prepared to talk to your players to ensure that those players who are feeling the pressure can be reassured and kept in a positive frame of mind. For the players in the successful team, having to wait so long for the opportunity of participating in the finals, knowing weeks ago that you were going to be there can also add pressure as well as frustration. Again a coach must keep working with his players to ensure that anxiety does not build. The other issue is bad habits that can creep into the team game and go unnoticed because you are winning games of football. The key to all good coaching is the ability of a coach to know his players well enough and watch for the signs. Having identified some of these issues it is also the coach’s responsibility to find the necessary solutions to problems that may occur. Do not take anything for granted when coaching sport. The moment you start to believe everything is going well is the very moment that you lose focus on what you are employed to do. The only time to start patting yourself on the back is after you and the team have won the most important game of the year. Until then you are just like every other coach in the competition and that is a person who has a dream. Don’t let it become a nightmare because you dropped away at the most important time of the season. Plan for every scenario and then have a plan B ready just in case.

Swoopercoach team wishes you every success.

You cannot expect to be great without loving the competition situation, top competitors love competition because they know that this will bring their best performance out of them - they thrive on the occasion, the more you compete, the easier it becomes, the better you get.

Often competition is not against someone else, but yourself. High achievers set themselves a standard to reach, they take pride in their own performance.

“WHEN THE GOING GET‘S TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET GOING”. .

AGGRESSIVE ENTHUSIASM

Defensive, tentative people never succeed. The person who approaches his goals with keenness and enthusiasm has a greater chance of succeeding because he is in the right frame of mind for success .

Successful aggression means that whatever you do, you do it to the best of your ability. Winners really go for it with everything they have got, without holding back. You cannot work up to your maximum ability if you’re not enthusiastic.

FAILURE

All high achievers have failed somewhere along the way to success . The road to success if filled with many ups and downs. It never has been a straight path to success. The winners see set backs as an opportunity to improve, to get better and stronger, no matter how dark their current situation. Winners tell themselves that greater benefits are there ready for them just around the corner. The bigger the failure you can bounce back from, the bigger the success you can gain .

There is nothing wrong with failing .To fail in itself is not a sin, but to accept it and do nothing about making sure that next time you will win is a crime. Losers fail and it doesn’t bother them. Winners see failure as a temporary setback and build a burning desire to redeem themselves.

“WINNERS TAKE THE PUNISHMENT OF DEFEAT AS AN URGE FOR GREATER EFFORT”

A man may make mistakes, but he isn’t a failure until he blaming someone else.

EMOTIONAL CONTROL

How often have you seen a person of great natural ability blow it because he could not keep his emotions under control. You cannot function at your best either physically or mentally if you are concentrating on arguing with officials or yourself. The important thing is that we recognise the good things and not get lost in self pity over misfortunes. Realise that once a mistake is made, you must accept it, profit by it, and then totally dismiss it from your mind.

COURAGE TO ACT

Nothing in this world is ever absolutely certain or guaranteed, the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act. Be willing to make a few mistakes, to suffer a little pain to get what you want. You have got the resources, but you will never know you’ re got them until you act and give them a chance to work for you.

“THE LONGEST JOURNEY STARTS WITH A SINGLE STEP “

FINAL NOTE

Every athlete has each of these traits to a certain extent, it is less degree, however, to which he possesses the trait that may make the difference between being a winner and a loser .

It is just as important to be working towards the development of the traits as it is to be working towards to development of talent and technique.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A WINNER?

ALL IN A STATE OF MIND

If you think you are beaten, you are, If you think you dare not, you don’ t

If you’d like to win, but think you can’t, It’s almost a cinch that you won’t

If you think you’ll lose you’ve lost, for out in the world you find

Success begins with a fellows will, It’s all in the state of mind

Feel many a race is lost

Before ever a step is run

And many a coward fails

Before ever his work’s begun

Think big and your deeds will grow, Think small and you’ II fall behind THINK THAT YOU CAN AND YOU WILL, It’s all in the state of mind

If you think you are outclassed you are, You’ve got to think high to rise

You’ve got be sure of yourself before, You can ever win a prize

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or fastest man

But sooner –or later –the man who wins is the fellow who believes he can

]]> http://www.swoopercoach.com.au/love-of-competition/feed/ http://www.swoopercoach.com.au/bench-tactics/ http://www.swoopercoach.com.au/bench-tactics/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:55:26 +0000 John Northey http://www.swoopercoach.com.au/?p=357 BENCH TACTICS

Introducing the impact player.

• With the game changing regularly and with four on the interchange bench, players must be prepared for many moves and changes. Players must sprint off.

• Similar to other sports, players must now accept the fact that the bench is now used to rotate players in an effort to keep fresh legs on the ground for four quarters. Players must sprint off.

• It is not always correct to assume you are coming off due to a mistake or poor form.

• However the time has now arrived where players will be disciplined for many reasons, giving away 50m, lack of discipline, not manning up etc etc.

• Control your anger when benched.

• Loss of focus not only affects the player benched but all other bench players.

• During the season we will structure out team so that we have a strike force coming off the bench in an attempt to influence the flow of the game.

• Decisions in this area will be made at the selection table, which will always be in the best interest of the side. It will be up to these strike players to make their presence felt immediately.

The Ecstasy is worth the Agony! Achieving your personal goals makes work worth the pain. Like finishing your first marathon. Clocking a faster P.R. Or maybe just making your miles for the week. It never gets easier. But whatever your goal, in the long run the Ecstasy is worth the Agony!

There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile things come from hard work and careful planning .
Concentrate on your objective and be determined to reach your goal.
Mental-Moral-Physical-Rest. Exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practised.

Respect without fear, confidence not cocky. May come from faith in yourself knowing that you are prepared .
Just be yourself. Being at ease with any situation. Never fighting yourself.
Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities diguised as impossible situations .

Be what you are, but become what you are capable of becoming .
Get a goal/dream in life and go for it -no matter how impossible . It is difficulties that show what men are .
Resolve to see the world on the sunnyside and you have almost won the
battle of life at the outset .
Be yourself, who else is better qualified?
I would rather lose in a cause that I know, will one day triumph, than to
triumph in a cause that I know will one day fail.
Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be persuaded to say it.
It is better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle a question without debating it.

The longest journey begins with a single step.
Perserverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth . The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
The development of stamina is closely connected with the development of persistence and tenacity, industriousness, willingness to bear difficulties, confidence in one’s own powers ability to muster maximum strength, and the will to win .
To develop persistence and tenacity, it is necessary not only to be striving toward a goal but believe in its attainability .
The real fruits of actual training, strengthen one’s ability to attain higher goals .
Zatopek: Forcing oneself to increase the pace when fatigue begins to set in.
The athlete’s thoughts prior to training and competition are of prime importance for his success. He should think of covering the distance faster, hanging with the record holder all the way.
Training should involve first all daring - the daring to attack not only
personal records but worId records as well, and the setting of high goals in general.
Actual competition has great significance in teaching the athlete to evoke large physical efforts as well as in developing all the desirable mental qualities.
In order to achieve progress an athlete has to be driven in a gradual manner to reach the passion level of competition .
Be at your best when your best is needed. Real love of a hard battle. A great man is what he is because he was what he was.

Dr Laurie Prosser.

REMEMBER

1. Heavy ball doesn’t travel as far – Play in Front.

2. Slippery ball – Limit handball.

3. Play in front – Umpire will reward you.

4. Having a shot – Dry the ball, boot, kick on the point.

5. Under pressure – Kick ball towards goal, soccer kick.

6. Put your body in – Be desperate.

7. Do the basics – Go direct.

8. Off to a good start – in case bad weather gets worse.

9. Don’t be fancy – Remember Basics.

10. Square your hands when marking – Head directly behind flight of ball.

11. Numbers to the contest – Out number.

12. Avoid too many handballs – Opportunity to kick, KICK.

13. Don’t let ball go past you – Get body behind ball.

14. Preparation – Be ready/ Be alert for a tough physical/ mental encounter.

Let me reiterate that it is important for coaches not to fall into the trap of conducting a training session without markers (cones). Even at senior level, it is not good enough to use positions of the oval or signs on fences as starting points for drills.

Players must learn the importance of timing their leads and the only clear way to do this is with the use of markers. We use a rule that players must start one metre behind the markers to ensure that they keep the drill work spaces open.

Different colored markers make every ones job so much easier, not only explaining the drill, but also in modifying it when necessary. You may have a simple session where players are rolling and handballing to each group in single lanes.

Use different colored markers and have players in lanes of equal ability. Have tests, where players who have improved, progress to the next color and a more skilled group.