IF the Sydney derby becomes a battle of the fittest, it’s a fair bet that it will go right down to the wire.
Since day one the Wanderers have prided themselves on fitness and preparation as good as any in the league. When results have dipped, they have just pushed harder.
But come Saturday, even amid the fervency of a partisan Parramatta crowd, you get the impression that their opponents won’t be fazed. For a crucial part of Graham Arnold’s rebuilding of Sydney FC has been to entrust the players to Andrew Clark, the conditioning coach he inherited at the Mariners and who became — according to a colleague of both — “almost like Arnie’s shrink”.
Andrew Clark, fitness coach with Sydney FC. pic Mark Evans Source: News Limited
A sounding board for Arnold on tactics and potential signings, as well as the players’ fitness regimen, Clark has his eyes on next week, next month and next season, and where the players should physically be at for each of those points.
“Athletic development is not a quick process — anyone who tells you that they can come in and in six weeks have changed someone is full of shit,” he said. “It’s a slow, consistent process to see the results.
“It’s been a step by step process that’s nowhere near finished, though things are going in a positive direction. We’ve just got a long way to go.”
His remit — working with all of Sydney’s medical staff, as he is quick to emphasise — covers everything from the stretching and gym work that begins every day, to the food the players eat to fuel their recovery program. Each player completes a wellbeing questionnaire each day, part of data compilation that guides the training program of every player in the squad.
“At the Mariners I’d been working with the players for up to 10 years, and I just knew in detail how their bodies would react to certain training loads,” he said. “At a new club you start all over again, and it’s an all-consuming period at the start to start to compile all the data you need.
“Every individual has different problems that you have to address within the structure of team training.
Andrew Clark, fitness coach with Sydney FC instructs Rhyan Grant pic Mark Evans Source: News Limited
“Look at say Bernie Ibini and Shane Smeltz, two classic cases of completely different needs to be at their best. Smeltzy is someone who I’ve really had to study along with my medical team, to understand how his bodywork.
“I’m sure he had to learn about us too, but you can feel when a player is beginning to turn the corner and get a bit of faith. When you see a player regain belief in themselves, that’s all you need to get job satisfaction.”
The key to is giving the players everything they need — which is why, with issues over the pitch at the club’s usual training ground, the gear from cones and weights to the lunch buffet have to be packed up and ferried to wherever the team is that day, from Leichhardt Oval to Allianz Stadium.
Then “they get given a number of different ways for their recovery — all of it based in food. We control their diet by making breakfast and lunch available every day, and provide the greatest recovery tool.
Marc Janko and Shane Smeltz during training at Leichhardt Oval. pic Mark Evans Source: News Limited
“We have 17 year old kids in and around the team — what would they know about what to eat in the first 30 minutes or two hours after training?”
Above all it’s science with a human interface; because for all the data collected, “the best model is sitting down and talking to people, keeping communication going”, Clark said. “The best regulator of training is a person’s brain — if you’re feeling tired you’re tired for a reason. You have to listen to the person.
“Because of the long off season here, and the way the season finished last year, they were a little bit behind where they should have started from when we came in.
“We’re slowly starting to get there. Every day we’re in a better place, and if that continues we’ll end up in a really good place.”
source: dailytelegraph.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 