Fitness Work Incoming
One more week until we can begin field training.
One month until we open up our season in St Louis.
I talked to the girls last Saturday about the importance of working on their overall fitness levels. Last year, I made substitutions every 10-12 minutes. This year league rules stipulate no re-entry per half. Meaning, if I pull a player out for a sub they cannot go back onto the field that same half.
U13 ECNL games are 2 x 35-min halves with a 10-min halftime break. I’m going to have to spend some time figuring out an optimal substitution pattern for sure…
Regardless, the girls are going to need to be able to perform at a high level for 15-20 min minimum, and that’s going to require fitness - something we haven’t really concentrated on up until this point.
Not only does fitness work help promote a healthy lifestyle habit for the girls, but it also helps to prevent injuries caused by fatigue on the field. In addition, tired legs lead to less movement, poorer touches, and poorer decision making.
And fitness is hard. It’s not fun. Unless you’re mental…
At least it was for me. Put a ball at my feet and I could run for days. Show me a road or a track and tell me we’re going to run for miles…and my calf muscle would be too sore for me to take part.
I wish I toughed it out a bit more as a player when it came to fitness. Like my teammate Tim Foster. He would lead every fitness challenge we had, and he could run forever.
He must have had some mental issues…
Anyway, I don’t want any of these girls to have the wegonnarunaphobia (wonder if that’s real?) that I had, and I’m going to do my best to instill a sense of “do it for you AND do it for your teammates” - to try and make it more than just about them, to try and make them accountable to their teammates.
There is definitely a bonding that happens when players make it though a tough time together. And fitness is for sure a tough time.
The plan for the week is as follows:
Mon : 1-mile run
Tues ; 7PM Video Analysis via Zoom
Wed : 1.5-mile run & 7PM Video Analysis via Zoom
Thur : Off
Friday : 2-mile run
Sat : 6PM Gophers vs St Thomas @ ELR Stadium
Sun : 2-mile run
The girls will be asked to use the Runnkeeper app to record their running time and distance, take a screenshot of it, and post in our team chat group (accountability).
