Our Premier League men and women are continuing their pre-season today with practice games against Camberwell and Essendon, a couple of weeks ago they both had pre-season camps looking to aiming to bring each squad together and set in place standards for the season ahead.
Men’s Premier League and Premier Reserve Training Camp in Shepparton
By Damien Luci
On the Weekend of the 23 of Feburary the Premier and premier reserve squads travelled north up the Mathew Higgins memorial Hume Hwy to Shepparton for an intensive two day training camp under the guidance of head coach Ben Guy. The camp was split between whiteboard sessions, training sessions and intra-club matches designed to help the A’s improve their standard of play and culture on and off the field. Despite the typical northern Victoria summer weather the players were put through their paces and also ran a junior clinic for local players on the Sunday morning. Local juniors were also invited to join in the intra-club matches to further strengthen the friendship between AHC and the GVHA.
Women’s Premier League and Premier Reserve Training Day
By Marc Richardson
The WPL squad endured a full pre season prep day on Saturday to acclimatise to the hockey season proper and push boundaries of fatigue and recovery with repetitive efforts. We ventured out to the athletics track for some fartlek training with short bursts of speed and different pace settings interspersed with short rests. Liv Rog and returning Hockeyroo Dan Schubach set the pace early clearly pushing each other all the way at the front of the pack. We followed this running session up with our own version of “speed dating” seeing all girls have a 1 minute Q & A with each other. Needless to say the volume in the clubrooms reached new heights as 24 girls competed with each other to see who could be the loudest. A number of interesting facts came out of the session, with some interesting insights into likes, family history, middle names, and the odd bowel movement story being shared!
After a discussion on a range of topics including team culture and expectations, leadership and philanthropy, the girls shipped off to The Gym in Yarraville, for a one hour lesson in boxing and cardio. With skipping, push ups, squats, sprints, burpees, toe lunges and different boxing techniques all on display, there was a few sore and sorry girls that headed out for lunch. Surprisingly, not a single complaint registered! Well done girls!
A structural and strategy discussion followed our lunch break, with some deep questioning providing clarity to the girls on ball movement and positioning across the field. We then had a chance to practice these skills in oppressive afternoon conditions, before a quick water break divided the training session with our intra club game to finish the day. Thanks to some of our development squad members, and one of their mum’s (thanks Caroline!) we had 28 players partake in the intra club, with some excellent ball movement finishing with some classy goals in a fairly open contest. Finally, and mercifully, the weather got the better of us, and it was off to the somewhat warm waters of Altona Beach for a quick dip and an enjoyable conclusion to a busy day.