Business time! Young Boyz begin rigorous training in Brazil
The Young Reggae Boyz appeared to have settled in well, adapting to their new environment and looking at ease and at home at the Traffic Academy.
But easy won’t be the order of the day, as on day two of their three-week camp, fitness trainer Andre Waugh ran the drills on another rainy evening.
“Today we looked at a bit of conditioning work with some anaerobic drills with the ball,” Waugh told the Observer. “We included a number of technical skills, which includes passing, dribbling, controlling with different parts of the body.”
Anaerobic drills are more intense than jogging for conditioning and shorter in duration. It is also aimed at reducing the body fat as well as burn calories. Thus, anaerobic football conditioning should make the player able to withstand the demands of the game’s intense activity, while being able to recover
more quickly.
But as to the fitness of the Young Reggae Boyz, Waugh is fairly satisfied. “We are definitely satisfied with where they are at this point in time. It’s not where we want them to be for a competition,” said Waugh, who is also the fitness trainer at Portmore United.
“This is the first opportunity where we have them for a prolonged period where we can administer a full fitness programme. The hope is to get them where we want to leading up to the competition, it is a process and we believe we are well on the way,” he pointed out.
With their first practice game set for tomorrow, head coach Wendell Downswell centred his attention on defensive tactics.
The defenders were fed a plethora of high balls to deal with and most of them looked very assured with their headed clearances.
The Boyz have settled in well with the conditions around them with three meals a day to date.
Their day starts at 6:00 am with a gym session before having breakfast. At 10:00 am goalkeeper coach Clive Wedderburn takes his charges Odean Clarke of Muschette High in Trelawny and St George’s College’s Nico Campbell through their paces.
After lunch the players participate in table tennis, while some surfed the Internet in a relaxed atmosphere before their second training session, which starts at 4:00 pm here.
