Fitness, Sports Science,Socceroos and FFA. Optimal Preparation?
Hopefully our Socceroos win their home games and qualify. So important for the sport and they should be good enough to do that. Interesting to follow through how the young German team has used Athletes Performance in the US for their fitness program and how we have dismantled ours since the Hiddink, Dutch invasion.
Athletes Performance, Football and Wall Street Journal!
In the past few years we have seen most of our junior teams not make it through to competitions such as Olympics and World Championships. We have seen the development of soccer specific fitness mantras since the Dutch revolution invaded OZ Soccer post Hiddink. There is no doubt that we do not have the pool of technically gifted players in Australia. But what we did have was a powerful AIS and institute program which prepared players physically far better than traditional Football nations do. This has been dismantled and the mantra is do it with the ball. That simplistically makes sense but development is stifled when this approach takes place. In the end Nations simply pick their best players for teams. And the reasons for being selected are multifactorial. Technical & tactical nous, experience at high level, proven products, speed, agility, power & endurance and so on.
Our one advantage over other nations in my opinion was that we were bigger, faster, stronger and nastier, not better players or more skillful teams. Interesting comments below from Shad Forsythe who talks about the traditional nature of training in Football. And very odd that European nations would use a US company! Plus look at the age of German Team. Something for FFA to think about. Should have they had a comprehensive Skills and Fitness program in place since Hiddink? Not just Skills?
I think the questions now have to be raised about Verhajen’s influence and the Dutch influence on a Fitness program ( not technical/tactical skills) that was ahead of the world. We were producing fit, tough players. His concepts are simplistic, obvious and geared towards preparing a mature, skilled team. Not development.
Brisbane Roar is a terrible example for OZ Soccer. A diluted A league with few teams and lowish standard should not be used as an example of a Soccer Specific fitness program. Also many overseas and older players with mature bodies confuse this approach.
I think the FFA has to critically look at the one advantage we had in Australia in football. Fitness and Sports Science. Soccer is probably NO 4 sport in OZ. We do not have the talent pool that a country like Holland or Brazil does. Kids do not go to bed with their soccer ball. But we have a great country where kids play heaps of sports and lots of good weather. Just tough, fit kids! Let’s make sure we take advantage of our sports mad country and also AIS/Insititute and Sports Science expertise.
With the current FFA policy for fitness, development of young players is stifled and so many young players are poorly developed physically at young ages and will not progress. Talented and Skilful players will in fact be lost in the process because they lack physical ability. A paradox ( if that is the right word!).
Read the articles below. And realize how many AFL clubs use the same facilities in the US. Maybe we have been Gus “Hoodwinked”.
From Wall Street Journal Article, Shad Forsthye , Athletes Performance fitness Guru for Germany.
28 Jun 2012 – “Soccer is behind the rest of the traditional sports when it comes to fitness,” said Shad Forsythe, the Athletes‘ Performance specialist. d appearances made by Italy’s squad.
“Even though Germany’s squad is the youngest at Euro 2012, with an average age of just 24 years and 11 months, the German players have made a combined 835 appearances for the national team, almost 40% more than the 610 combined appearances made by Italy’s squad
Germans Mobilize the Pace Corps – WSJ.com
loris bertolacci 