National Premier League (WA) , Strength & Conditioning , Coaching (Football)

National Premier League (WA) , Strength & Conditioning , Coaching (Football) 

This weekend sees the launch of the much anticipated NPL here in Western Australia. The NPL was designed to raise the standard of elite ‘state league’ football and will become the second tier below the national competition the Hyundai A-League. Its creation has the intention of raising the standard of the states elite football clubs as well as providing a development pathway for our elite youngsters. It will provide a more consistent structure nationally and give our state based sides a higher profile in much the same way that the WAFL does for Australian Rules Football.

It’s creation has the objectives of improving the coaching qualification and accreditation of our grassroots coaches (myself included) and focuses on youth development and improving the number of talented young players in line with the FFA’s vision and philosophy for our national team.

It’s a fine vision and one that I think will bear fruits for our national competition and our national team, but there is one aspect that I believe has been overlooked and has me extremely worried. And this is to do with the conditioning, training and injury prevention/rehabilitation of players;
Most of us have been there, the first day of pre-season training for our chosen sport (some of us coming back from the break in better shape than others) and being run into the ground almost to the point of being physically ill. Pointless distances being run on the whim of whoever happens to be in charge of the training, distances normally dictated by natural barriers (laps of Lake Monger anyone?) and beep tests being administered and then never repeated.

Unfortunately this kind of approach is all too common and I’m afraid to say is happening in our new elite competition, from juniors to seniors. I have been horrified in recent weeks and months after speaking to players and coaches alike to find that these sorts of archaic training regimes are still being implemented, with no scientific grounding or rationale and with no thought given to proper periodisation.

Stories of boot camp style beach sessions with players pulling out injured, juniors being made to run lap after lap of training pitches and seniors being put through cross-fit sessions with little or no focus on teaching correct technique, have left me feeling apoplectic.
What is needed for our junior and senior footballers is proper periodisation of their pre-season fitness training incorporating a proper warm up of dynamic stretching, SAQ, football conditioning games (small sided 3v3, 4v4 & 8v8) as well as repeated sprint training (distances of approx. 60m). Players should be encouraged to partake in their own flexibility regimes to improve their fundamental movement patterns and any weaknesses in these should be identified and strengthened.
Only then will we see an improvement in the standard of our grassroots and development football.

There are of course some exceptions to the above, Bayswater City SC for instance were champions last year not only because of the immensely talented and experienced players that they had, but also because of their very good levels of fitness. There are some very knowledgeable and experienced coaches involved in football in the state, unfortunately there aren’t enough people with a sports science background to assist them with conditioning their players. And it’s because of this that I believe we are putting players health at risk and preventing them reaching their potential.

It’s a subject that I am immensely passionate about and truly believe to be just as important as improving the standard of coach education.

In summary, what we need is to be smart about our fitness training. Specific, periodical and relevant to the game of football.

Mark Scanlan
Performance Analyst

#conqueraverage