Inside Football

FEATURE20

FOOTBALL is faster and more demanding than ever before. For reasons including rule changes, ground conditions and use of the bench, both

players and ball are travelling faster. Match intensity is gruelling, leaving players

exhausted with as little as five days to recover for the next game.

Players have recorded sprint speeds of around 30kmh and total distances covered average around 12km a game, with elite players running closer to 20km.

Midfielders can endure 40 to 50 high-impact collisions per game with as much as 11G of force (more than the force experienced by a pilot doing a max turn in a fighter jet!)

Training load and player monitoring is now a crucial part of every club’s weekly agenda. If game load and training stress are out of balance with

recovery, the consequences for a player include a decrease in performance, fatigue, reduced sleep, altered mood, susceptibility to viruses, and potential for injury.

In order manage this, fitness, medical and coaching staff need to know what sort of load players are enduring each week.

David Buttifant, sport science director at Collingwood, explains that training load for an AFL athlete is difficult to measure as it includes many components such as field training, weight training, game day load – even team meetings, which add to the psychological load of players.

The whole football program is considered training load for Collingwood players.

Buttifant says player monitoring has changed. In the past they looked at the training load of the entire team, but now it’s all about individuals.

“There is a vast difference as far as the training history of players where some players have been elite athletes for only a very short period of time and others have been for eight years and beyond,” Buttifant said.

“We have to manipulate loads according to training history and physical maturation. If we don’t, then it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Although the weekly training load can’t be measured exactly, Collingwood has a range of tools to monitor players and couple this information with their own observations.

Players complete a self-monitoring diary with each of the three training sessions per week. The players need to record a rating out of 10 for a range for issues relevant to their recovery such as muscle soreness, energy level, sleep quality, stress, muscle tightness, diet and use of recovery interventions.

They also rate technical points including kicking, marking and intensity.

The diaries are online and players can complete them at the club or at home.

If the values entered by a player differ from their usual, Buttifant is alerted so that the player’s wellbeing can be scrutinised.

Another monitoring strategy used by Collingwood is blood testing.

At 24, 48 and 72 hours after each game, blood samples are collected from players to test for a number of markers of fatigue. If values for these markers have not returned to baseline by 72 hours post match, training load for that player will be adjusted so as not to harm their recovery.

Buttifant says that the players actually become

competitive about getting their values back to baseline and that this helps them to commit to recovery interventions such as ice baths, massage and stretching.

Of course, a key element is honest and open communication between players and staff.

Players want to line up each week, particularly around finals, and though they may be tempted to try to “fly under the radar” if they are not recovering well, they know that they can’t just think about themselves.

“It’s all about the team; it’s not about the individual so if they feel they’re not quite right, they’ve got to be open about that,” Buttifant said.

Buttifant emphasised the need for personal contact and really knowing the players.

“You have a lot of resources to help provide valuable information but it is being able to pick up on the idiosyncrasies of a player,” he said.

“It could be their running gait or their attitude towards training. It’s reading those cues, so that’s

where communicating regularly with players about how they are going and what they need to enhance their performance is so important.”

The use of GPS now means that a huge amount of information is available to coaching and conditioning staff about player load. Limited by the AFL to GPS on only 10 players per club per game, clubs carefully choose who they monitor for heart rate, distance run, speed, acceleration, power output, leap height and body load.

Buttifant finds that the GPS is particularly useful for training. At Collingwood, usually around six players will be fitted with GPS each session.

The data tells the coaching staff if the training drills are meeting the loads that they are prescribing for that session and if they are successfully simulating training loads that are similar to game day loads. They find this particularly useful in pre-season.

In addition to all of the testing mentioned, players have their hydration status tested before every game using a urine test.

Each player then has a hydration program that includes the type and volume of fluids for game day.

All fluids consumed by players before, during and after the game are recorded. If a player happens to experience a cramp during a match, which can result from dehydration, the fluid intake of that player will be reviewed to see where things went wrong.

Collingwood players are monitored by the sports science staff, who then pass on the information to Buttifant. At every training session Buttifant, medical and coaching staff meet to discuss who is and isn’t capable and the risks associated with increasing a vulnerable player’s load.

Players are understandably unhappy about having their training load adjusted but Buttifant says it is about getting productivity on game day.

And players have a say in the process too. Even though a player might not be primed for training, coaches often need players out on the field for tactical reasons so sometimes calculated risks need to be taken.

Buttifant explains that all of their observations, communication and testing gives the staff a real feel for where a player is at and the risk of playing him.

Decisions have to be made as to whether or not to rest a player, reduce their training load, or know the risk in playing a player but taking it anyway because ultimately it’s about winning matches.

Besides, players who have been “red flagged” often perform well regardless of what their test results are saying about them.

“There’s always that phenomenon that when players are travelling very well, even though all of the markers are saying that this player potentially could be overloaded, they have that ability to push through,” said Buttifant

And even with the most sophisticated monitoring strategies, it is rare to have 100 per cent of players injury free and “firing on all cylinders”.

“I think it’s pretty unrealistic to have a whole team peak at the one time,” he said.

“It’s about ensuring players can maintain consistency, keeping your good players on the paddock, keeping them injury free, keeping them fresh and being able to sustain a high level of performance.”

Buttifant describes the season as a marathon where the weekly load on players accumulates significantly.

When looking at interventions for each player, the focus is on individual but also team performance because ultimately it’s about what happens on game day – and that’s all about winning.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009Inside Football

Sports science is playing an increasing role in keeping AFL

footballers in peak condition, writes DR JODI RICHARDSON.

load and training stress are out of balance with

recovery, the consequences for a player include a decrease in performance, fatigue, reduced sleep,

Each player then has a hydration program that includes the type and volume of fluids for game day.

The science of form

Inside the game

‘I think it’s pretty unrealistic to have a whole team peak at the one time.’ – DAVID BUTTIFANT

WARMING TO THE TASK: The Pies ease into a session.

WATCHFUL EYE: David Buttifant (left) with Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse.