An interesting week with the cancellation of our game v Perth and the draw v Gold Coast. The late change in scheduling highlights the reason all plans should have flexibility and fortunately we were able to adjust quickly.
An interesting week with the cancellation of our game v Perth and the draw v Gold Coast. The late change in scheduling highlights the reason all plans should have flexibility and fortunately we were able to adjust quickly.
Our result against Gold Coast was obviously not what we desired but a point and a clean sheet are 2 positives to come from this game. Our attention now turns to Newcastle who is always a difficult opponent. They have a solid squad and are well coached so we will have to be at our best to secure the 3 points.
I was recently fortunate to be invited to England to present on sport science in football and this was a very good experience. Australia is well known as a leader in sport science and adapting this domain to football can offer significant benefits to a club. Sport science goes far beyond getting players “fit” and for me the area that we can impact most is in player monitoring.
Player monitoring is focused on maximising a players potential by monitoring them pre, during and post training or competition. Our goal is not only to prevent injury but also determine if the player is performing at their maximum. It is a relatively new area but one that is developing rapidly and fortunately at Sydney FC we have a coaching staff that believes in what the Human Performance Unit is doing.
We monitor everything from sleep, psychological status, immune function, training data such as distance covered, maximum speeds and heart rates. This data is then formulated and presented to the coaching staff to determine what training session is applied daily and at what intensity. Our goal at Sydney FC is to become a world leader in this field and at present we are moving in the right direction.
Whilst in England I was able to visit club legend Tony Popovic who is doing great things at Crystal Palace and also former Socceroos sport scientist Darren Burgess who is now head of sport science at Liverpool. Darren is considered one of the best in the EPL and this is a credit to him and Australia. It was also great to know that many people were aware of our club and the profile of the A League is definitely rising.
This week-s game is away and we have set protocols for each venue that we travel to. It is important to take away the home advantage by ensuring our preparation is spot on. When your focus is player welfare then players will perform to their maximum and at Sydney FC player welfare is at the forefront of our decision-making.
Dr Craig Duncan
