I'M FIT FOR ANYTHING
Coaching course is showing where we're getting it wrong
I'VE been getting to grips with my coaching course this week and learning far more about fitness than I ever thought possible.
First, we had a test on injury recognition and, considering what I have been through lately, I'll be pretty gutted if I have failed that one.
Then we were given a talk on fitness training by a bloke who was at least four stone overweight!
He went into detail about how thin Premier League players are. As he was speaking, I looked around the room and just about everyone was tucking into a foot-long Subway. That will be why we are in the Championship.
Andy Barlow, our main teacher on the course, told us the top clubs do a lot of tests on speed and recovery and that Arsene Wenger buys and sells his Arsenal players based on these stats.
Picking a team like that means you end up with young, fast, skilful players, which is what makes Arsenal so great to watch. I reckon Wenger should mix his team up a bit and look to sign a big 27-year-old striker from the lower end of the Championship!
Straight
Barlow also showed us how much ground Championship players cover during a match. As you would expect, central midfielders cover the most at around11.5 km, while big, lazy centre-halves manage only a measly 10km. Strikers average around 10.9km, which gave me plenty of ammunition to wind up the defenders!
I've finally started running after seven weeks out. Footballers usually moan like mad about running but it's all I've been dreaming aobut for the last few weeks. It was great just to pull on my boots so I could feel like a footballer again.
After my first run, I looked worse than Chris Moyles at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro but I've been improving since then.
When my team-mates ask when I'll be playing again, I tell them it will be a few weeks yet because I'm only running in straight lines.
"Don't worry about that," is the usual response. "You never ran anyway and if you can still head it then you should be all right for Saturday." It's nice to have so much support!
This article has 1 comment
hi bbb, glad to hear you are making progress. i think us supporters realise what you bring to the team now that you have missed some games and hope you will be back soon flapping your arms after scoring!!
By simon shuter. Posted March 16 2009 at 4:09 PM.