A-League Soccer - S&C - Q's for Nanny

[jgb99]

nanny69, how would a typical speed/tempo/weights/medball session in the off/pre-season be structured (I realise it would vary, but just a roughish idea)?

[John]

last season the teams last game was played late Feb 07....

from there we had 2 weeks break, trip away etc etc... due to the comp being only 5 pre season games / 21 comp games / 3 semi finals for us, we came back for another 6-7 weeks of work, during this time we mainly did swimming, boxing, yoga, pilates, hurdle walkovers and some field sessions with the ball mainly to keep the players touch with the ball going these sessions were only in the mornings all afternoons were off.

we pulled the pin after 6 weeks as you could see them going stir crazy training for no games... we started back in June giving us 12 full weeks before the first comp game

reading the above it looks like they had May off is that correct?

What was the expectation of the players over that time?

While the coach may have been supportive what was the reaction of the players to a vastly different preseason?

When were you at the Roosters?

How has what you do in A league differed to NRL?

Have you been approached by the Phoenix yet

[TopCat]

Wow you are really privileged to be able to choose what they do! If I had to add up our numbers it would be more like 15K a week of tempo or such! Just crazy.

[nanny69]

same volume also?

volume exactly the same for the keepers......

[nanny69]

see answers below

reading the above it looks like they had May off is that correct?

yeah we have end of arpil and all of may off.

What was the expectation of the players over that time?

None really we didnt have any issues regarding weight to worry about so we let them go and forget soccer for 6 weeks plus we had some guys in national camps for U/20's and U/23's.

While the coach may have been supportive what was the reaction of the players to a vastly different preseason?

they loved it, when i outlined that it will be all speed based with no 200's, 400's or bush runs it was like a huge weight had been lifted so the pre season was something they looked forward to. i must ad (from a report back to me from our players after a national camp, Australia's former national S&C "guru" asked the guys what we were doing for the pre season...
they told him, hills, tempo, med ball and weights,,, his response "well you guys will do nothing this year, when do you run up hills on a soccer field".... and note in the pre season we were favourites to finish with the wooden spoon in everyones eyes..



When were you at the Roosters?

2000 to 2004

How has what you do in A league differed to NRL?

the coaches are ffar more open to the fresh approach, the year we won the gf in 2002 we did a speed based pre season, same again in 2003 and 2004 runner ups both years, after the 2004 loss he thought thats it we need to go back to working hard we need to be fitter despite the fact we were the best team all year by far and lost to a better team on the big day, i saw the writing on the wall after the first session, our new regime was speed at 7am, then weights, then a skills session followed by 30 x 100m in week 1, week 2 was 40, wk 3 50 and so on.... when players who have worked a speed based session ask what the hell is going on you know your in trouble. i left and went back to taiwan, injuries killed the club that year think they finished 2nd last though not sure.

Have you been approached by the Phoenix yet

not yit bro

[nanny69]

Wow you are really privileged to be able to choose what they do! If I had to add up our numbers it would be more like 15K a week of tempo or such! Just crazy.

sorry TC missed this post our actual highest week of tempo was 8k for 3 straight weeks

[boldwarrior]

p
and note field sessions last no longer than 90 mins....

Field sessions - i take it, that means working with the coach doing ball specific work?

Do you count how much running is performed in such a session into the weekly volume? How would you do so? Do you count this as pretty low key INTENSITY wise?

[TopCat]

What you often see with field sessions is a quick deterioration of skill level with fatigue. Just like with Plyos, there is initially a rise in quality as they "warm up" mentally and then once the peak is hit there is a sharp decrease in performance. With a pro side better to have more shorter practices rather than one long drawn out one. Even the best strikers start to lose the ability to aim the ball after so many high intensity kicks.

[Foxnsox]

a brief background!!!!

i started with them in a consulting role after rnd7 in the 2006/07 season, at that stage that we were last on the table and inc preseason went roughly 12 games without a win.

as a result the coach, conditioner name escapes me and 1 assistant got the sack.

enter Gary Vanegmond, (dutch aussie)highly successful youth coach in sydney he appointed a good friend of mine from the national womens program (matildas) and nswis who i have worked with for a number of years before asia venture.

with the payouts to staff they had no funds at all to pay me so i did reviews, consulting for free for the remainder of the season on the promise that if the team went well the $$$ would be there for the 2007/08 season.

we went on to finish 4th in the regular season, i think losing only 2 of the next 14 games and missed out on the grand final after losing on penalties to adelaide....

from what i saw on program notes, the preseason and early season was full of cross country runs, sand dune runs, 400 & 800m runs with no speed work at all.... and maybe as a consequence suffered a bad run of soft tissue injuries in the first 3rd of the comp.

I must admit i am lucky that the coach is a mad sprints and athletics fan and was there to watch Flo Jo and Ben J in 88 as part of the olympic soccer team, since then he says he just loves to watch the sport and is a big on the fact that speed should come first in the pre season.

a point which is lost on alot of league teams here.

i will dig out my programs from this years pre season with all the numbers for hills, speed, tempo, core, and post it here... will try and post the graph if i can

but like i did with my time at the roosters we were strictly short to long, the longest we did in speed was 60m with the first 6 weeks all done as hills sprints and extensive tempo work we did alot of 2x100m runs and 4 x 50m tempo runs.... 2-3 times a week.

Hello Nanny

I also have experience in team sports. I have a question for you. Given your background in team sports, how does that prepare you for training a 10.08 runner?

Could you also give us an overview on your experienced coaching sub 11 men?

I know from my personal experience in team sports. I wouldn’t have the confidence in preparing an elite 100m runner. Maybe your answers could help me.

Thanks- and keep up the good work

[bullseye]

Interesting what you say about the roosters and their change of approach Nanny.
I saw some of the roosters doing an early morning run session last week. I was there for about 20-30mins and when I left they were still doing the same thing................. running the length of the field hard then jogging across the ingoal and repeating. Didn't look like they were enjoying it too much.
I sent you a PM Nanny.