Gimmicks et al

SAQ training became a bit of a rage in the late 90's, early 00's. SAQ stands for Speed, Agility, Quickness and is considered by many to be a more appropriate alternative to old fashioned methods like laps, for improving players fitness, speed, strength etc. In the past I attended the Foundation, Level 1 and Conditioning courses with my brother and fellow Kinsale club man Gearoid Condon, under the tutelage of Jim Kilty. Whilst I was deeply suspicious that the course was more of a roadshow whereby Jim demonstrated different things using his expensive equipment with the ultimate view of boosting sales, I was still impressed.

I was first introduced to this style of training by Eddie Kirwan when he was training us in U.C.C. Alot of people were sceptical about it at the beginning, mainly because we had been so stuck in old methods. Eddie was taking the same approach with Nemo footballers and confirmed that they also had their concerns initially. When implemented properly you have very short, snappy warm ups. Dynamic stretches, short bursts of game specific movements and small sided games to prepare the body for full on training. The running aspect of training focuses on multi-dimensional sprints involving changing direction, controlling speed by quicken your stride and slowing it down and improving agility. Ladders, hurdles etc are used to improve your technique and quicken your feet.

Regular fears from players would be that because they have not gone through their regular few laps and long stretches for warm-ups that they will pull muscles. It's a change of mindset that is required. In a game you will make sharp sudden movements and your muscles need to be prepared for this. If you buy into it, you will understand that 3/4 second stretches are actually more appropriate to prepare your muscles for what they are about to do. Moving on to the fitness aspect of the training, guys need to understand that a game is made up of a serious of runs varying in length and speed. You will jog, stride, sprint, jog, stride etc. Never will you be asked to run twenty laps in a game. So, if you simulate the amount, distance etc of runs that you expect a player to make in a game, tailor your regime to meet that, then you should have a better prepared player. Of course, the whole thing can be explained much more scientifically but that is the jist of it.

During a winter of discontent back around 2003, we were left trainerless in early January. I enlisted the help of Trevor Collins, who had been a teacher in my school. Trev would be well linked into coaching through the IRFU and had all the gadgets and gizmos that accompany the SAQ model. I found the training brilliant, intense and sport specific. In that league campaign our movement was as good as I ever seen it and we racked up some massive scores. For whatever reasons, Trev wasn't around come the summer and we fell to one of our most embarrassing Championship exits on a windy day down in Crosshaven. We should have built on the early season work but didn't. Still, from training under Eddie and Trev, I was sold on its value and took the courses in parallel.

Since then, i've always tried to bring a SAQ element to training. It has been less successful in Brussels even though it was generally well receieved by the players. With FC Irlande you simply could not do it with the quantity of players involved; sometimes up to 50. You would need too much equipment and would not be able to give enough attention to fellas who were struggling with the technique. Also, you have such a turnover of players that you would be constantly trying to teach fellas and they would, by no fault of their own, disrupt to fluidity of the drill.

At the beginning of this year, we did a good bit of ladders with the G.A.A. lads. Again turnover is a problem but the consistency fellas show up is also an important factor. In my opinion, to see the improvement from SAQ, you need to be training at least twice a week on a regular basis. When fellas do get a run of it you can see the improvement in their footwork expecially. I lessened the focus as the months went on because of the reasons I just mentioned not being aligned. However, in the last week or so, to try and bring some freshness to the sessions as the long season draws to a close, I've brought back in elements of it.

My personal favourites are the breakaway belts. Positioned in a grid the size of a badminton court, both you and your parter put on nylon belts, with a velcro tag hanging out of it. A piece of nylon cord connects both of you by attaching to the velcro. One player is a defender and the other an attacker (he holds the ball). The attacker must try and break the connection by evading the defender. He can move sideways, backwards, forwards but cannot turn and run away from him. Its all about footwork. While all this is going on though, the defender is trying to slap the ball out of the attacker's hands. There is no soloing or hopping, he just has to hold the ball. We do it in thirty second bursts and it is very aggressive and very intense. The lads love it, even if a few stray slaps come their way.

Last nights session worked on speed and footwork, with a bit of handling thrown in. These drills don't exhaust the lungs but if done properly will make the muscles in the legs burn. They also tap into the mind as you need to do a bit more thinking about the requirements of the drills. Our concentration levels are generally quite poor so last night we tried to make fellas think all the time. After each bit of running we would do some different exercises to keep the brain ticking over. One involves a small ball that would fit in the palm of your hand, which has bumps sticking out of it. You throw it at the ground in front of your partner and he must catch it before it hits the ground again. The bounce of the ball is difficult to predict so you need to adjust you feet quickly and have good hand-eye coordination. It's another enjoyable drill to make the most of the 'rest' time.