Four weeks of training, one week of rest, followed by another four weeks of training before the first match of the season in Tampa Bay on April 9 : that’s how the Impact is preparing for 2011.
Training camp resumed in early February, but that doesn’t mean the players were inactive since the end of the 2010 season in October.
“After last season, the players had three or four weeks of vacation. After that, they followed a workout program at home. It’s basic work, but it allows them to maintain an acceptable fitness level for when they come into training camp. Every player is responsible for coming back in shape. If not, those players can be subjected to a more intense fitness plan. It’s very important for the entire team to have a balanced fitness level.”
The program has also been completely revamped from what it was in previous seasons.
“Preparation should normally last six weeks, but we’ve had to contend with a longer offseason compared to other leagues. The players’ return date is predetermined in their contracts. We discussed various options with the technical staff and concluded that training for 10 weeks with a long-term goal, as was the case in the past, just wasn’t the ideal situation psychologically.”
The Impact’s master plan to prepare the players mentally and physically for 2011 was determined: “Two four-week sessions, with two distinct objectives. The first phase concluded in Arizona with matches versus MLS teams. The second phase will conclude on opening day. Between the two, the players have benefited from a week of rest and time spent with their families, even if they have a bit of work to do individually. The week before the first phase was very intense and the first 20 days of the second phase are just as intense.”
This may explain why some of the players are a little tired just two weeks before the first match of the season, but it will ultimately help their conditioning for the rest of the season, which wraps up in October. It should also be noted that compared to other leagues around the world, there is no mid-season break in NASL, which provides players with much-needed recuperation time.
In other parts of the soccer world, it’s not uncommon to see players running through the woods or over dunes in preparation for a long season. With our rigorous climate and a head coach (Marc Dos Santos) who stresses the importance of time spent on the ball, Gil Orriols Jansana could not lay out that type of program.
“It’s not a problem because I’m in complete agreement with Marc’s ideas. We try to work on specifics as much as possible. The reality is that work done away from the ball is often done on the pitch or in the gym. At the Impact, none of our offseason training is done outdoors. We could take the club cross-country skiing, but that would do more to improve team spirit than help the group’s physical preparation.”
If the match on April 9 in Tampa Bay is on everyone’s mind, the match on April 27 should be as well, when Vancouver visits Saputo Stadium for the first step toward the CONCACAF Champions League. Winning that championship is a priority for the Impact, especially after living some incredible moments in 2008-2009. It promises to be a challenging first step, considering the Whitecaps have been back in action since March 19.
“It’ll be difficult to compensate for the extra three weeks of soccer they’ll have in their legs. Therefore, our job will be to prepare the team as best as possible so that our players are as competitive as they can be. There isn’t much time to do that, but that’s the schedule and we’ll have to live with it.”
Whether the opponent is Vancouver, Atlanta or Edmonton, the players will have to be in top form for every game. What instructions are the players given before each game?
“It’s always the same routine. The day before a game, practice focuses on reinforcing tactical execution for that particular match. The workload is light in order to keep everyone fresh for the following day. After that, there’s a lot of rest and it’s important to eat well the entire week.”
Keeping those extra pounds off is crucial. “We always have a scale handy. In some cases, we’ll weigh a player every three or four days. In general, we do that every two or three weeks as each player has an ideal weight to maintain. Each player is weighed at the end of the season and is given a weight limit that is not to be exceeded by the start of training camp. We don’t only control weight, but also the percentage of body fat every 90 days.”
While the scale is considered a daily training tool, the Impact has added a more intriguing gadget to its arsenal: the GPS. “There are several types of video-analysis systems available, but they are quite costly and the Impact doesn’t have the budget for that right now. In Qatar, I worked with GPS and saw the benefits. That technology allows us to monitor a player’s movement on the field, what speed they’re travelling at, the distance they’ve covered at varying intensities, etc. The drawback with GPS is that we can only analyse one player at a time.”
The technical staff has collected a ton of valuable information. “An Impact midfielder covers roughly 10 kilometres in 90 minutes. We can even break down the proportion of time spent running versus walking, whether a player is consistent or less productive in the second half, always keeping the tactical level of the match in mind. That’s why it’s so important to consider all of the data when making a fair and balanced evaluation.”
Soccer is a simple sport with a simple objective: score more goals than the opponent. Accomplishing that is where the complexity lies, due to the number of variables that factor into a game. That’s why physical preparation and possessing the right analytical tools are vital to the Impact’s success, ultimately allowing the club to pile up victories week after week.
Matthias Van Halst, Impact Media
