EuroAsia Coaches Cooperation project continues with focus on strength and physical conditioning

The historic EuroAsia Coaches Cooperation programme continues in Bangkok – with speakers and experts from the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) now leading the way after completion of the classes run by CEV expert Gert Van de Broek of Belgium.

AVC assistant expert, Shihab Aldin Bin Ahmed of Oman, led the morning sessions with the coaches. The main topics were physical conditioning, injury prevention and polymeric and resistance training. The attendees from as many as seven European and Asian countries exchanged feedback on their experiences and definitions of physical conditioning, and the importance of using it with elite players. An open discussion ensued on which elements of physical conditioning are especially important for Volleyball athletes: these include exercises that improve flexibility, endurance, stability, agility, etc.

Physical conditioning is not just going to the weight room and making heavy lifts with the team. Proper physical conditioning must also consider the rest and recovery time needed after tough trainings and matches.

AVC invited an assistant expert, Dr Digvijay Singh Rathore, who presented the physiotherapist role and how they can collaborate with coach to ensure top health of their athletes.

The morning sessions ended with an overview of polymeric & resistance training methods. Volleyball athletes, especially at professional level, have less and less time to react in the game at higher-level competition as there is an extremely short time to jump/land and change direction, which accounts for explosive bursts of movement. The experts went through some examples of different types of polymeric and resistance trainings used in their clubs/teams and discussed how these compare to those seen in European teams. Even if the coaches are not scientific experts, they must gain at a minimum the basic knowledge in these topics.

Later in the day, the AVC experts and coaches went back to the Sports Science Centre of the Sports Authority of Thailand to conduct a physical conditioning and strength session with the Thailand men’s volleyball team. Mr Ahmed set up different exercise “stations” to establish a circuit, with coaches split up at each station and responsible for conducting the circuit training with the players, thus accounting for work and rest time. At the end, coaches took one player from the team and conducted an example individual training with him for a few strength exercises.