Training Starts Tuesday

Just a few things as we jump into this coming season.

• Training starts this week! Tuesday and Thursday 8:10 - 9:30 at South Campus on L-2. 
• We will add a third session at some point. 
• SRPL games start Aug 20-21in Plano.
• We will likely have some scrimmages the weekend before (Aug 13-14).
• We will try to play a local tournament Aug 27-28 to get some extra games under our belts.
• Please keep Thanksgiving weekend and New Year's open on your calendar. 
• We should get more details on our SRPL schedule by this Monday.
• We should find out about National League on Tuesday.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Let me know how I can help.

Getting ready for the Fall.

Here’s some info on this fall season We are playing in the Southern Regional Premier League, just like last Fall. Here is the schedule. We are in the Premier division. I have applied for a spot in National League. Those games are played in conjunction with some big showcase tournaments. If we are accepted, we will play Dec 1-4 in Willson, NC, and then either Dec 31-Jan2 at Disney OR March 17-19 in Vegas. We should know if we are accepted by August 2. Stay tuned. We will be trying to hit some of the big tournaments even if we don’t get in NL. Solar Chelsea Tournament - August 12-14 in Dallas. WAGS Tournament – October 8-10 in Northern Virginia. D’feeters Tournament – November 25-27 in Dallas. Disney – December 31-January 2 in Orlando. We are not playing in USC. Vedad wants to start training the first week in August. What I need from you: Please let me know ASAP if you can’t make any of these dates. The registration deadline for one of these events is tomorrow. I need to know we can field a team before I pony up the registration fee. Email me back, call, text, anything. I really don’t want to be going to these things with only 11 girls. I’ll keep maintaining the blog even though the team name is wrong. For those new to the team, check out 00g-navy.blogspot.com. I try to keep all of our relevant information there. Also, if you’re not on the GroupMe, you should be. For the new families, download the GroupMe app to your phone, and send me an email or a text. I’ll invite you to the group. It’s a great way to quickly share info on games, practices, rain outs, and even the play by play live updates if you can’t make the games. P.S. And finally, if your daughter has been taking it easy this summer. Now is the time to start getting back in shape. These games are right around the corner, and we really need to avoid those injuries from overuse and exhaustion because they've lost some fitness over the summer. They should be doing something 3-4 times a week, at the minimum going for a run. Preferably some sort of structured training with some sprints in there. If you need ideas, look at this. Please do some strength training as well. Strong quads, glutes, and hamstrings reduce the risk of injury. Some of you have asked me to suggest some specific things to do as far as strength training. Here’s an example of some exercises. You probably wouldn't want to do all of these exercises in a single session, there are various ways to mix and match. Please feel free to call or email me, and I can put together a program for you. LEGS – this is what they need most, and I’ll be the most specific here. Start with the Limber 11. This is a great warm up routine. 5 sets of 10-15 Goblet Squats. Start with a light weight like 20 lbs. Goblet squats are a great way to learn the proper form for squats. They WILL be doing squats at whatever college program they go to. If you can get 5 sets of 15 with 20 lbs, next time move up 5 lbs. Rinse and repeat. 3-5 sets of 8-12 Single Leg Split Squats aka Bulgarian Split Squats. Start with bodyweight, and work up to some dumbbells held at your sides or like in a goblet squat. These hit the glutes as well, and all the secondary stabilizing muscles. 3 sets of 8-12 Stiff Leg Deadlifts. Start light, use 10 lb. dumbbells or just an Olympic bar. Your hammies will be tight the next day! 3 sets of 10-15 Glute Bridges. If you struggle with single leg, use both. When you get good at them, you can support your upper back with a half bosu and put a barbell across your hips for more resistance. CORE - Forget sit ups and crunches. Those are too hard on your spine and don’t add a lot of functional strength. Your core is meant to stabilize your body to transfer power across your upper and lower body. Exercises for core should be: anti-extension (planks, ab wheel rollouts) anti-lateral flexion (side planks, one armed farmer carry) anti-rotation (pallof press) hip flexion (hanging leg raise, toes to bar, L pull-ups) UPPER BODY – I’ll keep it simple here. I believe in the big compound lifts, and not wasting time on accessory lifts…they’re not body builders, they’re athletes. Push ups – As competitive athletes they ought to be able to knock on 10 proper push ups. If not, get busy! Bench press – no reason not to do bench if you have access. Start light (the bar?) and try to get 4 sets of 6 reps. Each session add 5-10 lbs, if you can keep getting all the reps in. Barbell rows – a little more technical, so watch the video and read the link. Core should be TIGHT, spine should be neutral, posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) should be TIGHT before you begin the rep. Start light and work your way up. Something you can do 4 sets of 8 with. Pull ups or chin ups – If you can’t do even one, then do some negatives (start at the top and let yourself down as slowly as possible). Do sets of negative reps until you can do a real one. Over head press – Same as bench. Start light, work your way up. Ideally, the girls should be doing some deadlifts, power cleans, and plyometrics too, but I’ll leave that for a later time since form is so important. Seriously though, I’m willing to help any of the girls with strength programming or technique. Just ask!