The Fear of Fitness

Last Saturday, I noticed that some of the girls were not playing up to their normal standards towards the end of training ; not closing the ball down quickly or recovering well on defense, not making as many runs forward, etc.  I knew what the problem was - the girls were saving themselves for the 30 minutes of FIT Training that we did after each Saturday session. 

I was the same way when I was a player.  Buzz Lagos (my coach with the Minnesota Thunder) was notorious for tough, post-practice fitness sessions, and I absolutely hated running.  Put a ball in front of me and I could run all day.  Put me in a purely fitness session with no ball and I struggled.  I know it was a mental thing, but it was a mental thing that I couldn't get past during my playing days.  I knew that as a professional player I needed to be at peak physical shape during the season, but I just couldn't avoid the anxiety when I knew training was going to be followed by fitness.  This anxiety affected my training performance as I consciously would not expend full energy in practice to save something for the running. 

I confronted the girls with this thought and many of them commented that this is exactly what was happening.  I think that I've done a good job of giving the girls the needed motivation for the extra fitness work, reminding them what our goal is for State Cup and challenging them to be the best team on the field at their age group in Minnesota in all four key areas; technically, tactically, physically, and mentally.  But this didn't stop the girls' dread of seeing the teal-coated FIT Trainer enter the dome.

So this weekend (helped by a schedule change at the dome) I had the girls come in at 8:45AM, an hour prior to our start time on the field.  Usually the girls get there 30 minutes in advance for our Video Analysis.  I had Danielle, our FIT Trainer, also come in at 8:45AM and work the girls until 9:15AM.  I then gave the girls a "break" and we did our video analysis for 30 minutes before taking the field at 9:45AM.  When I asked the girls about the layout of today's session, the all commented that they preferred the idea of FIT Training first, then video, then the training session on the field.  I will monitor the girls' "rubber legs" closely to make sure that our training sessions are not adversely affected, but will look to alter our Saturday training schedule in an effort to maximize performance.