LISTEN: Ashley Jones — Incorporating Games in a Pre-Season Program

Over the years I have attempted to integrate other sports activities into my pre-season plan, concentrating on major games in particular. My rationale behind has two parts:

1. If it is fun and engaging to the player, they do not actually realize how hard they are working
2. The other skills that are used can be transferred to the game of rugby, which we are actually training for.

I use basketball, handball, squash, water polo, wrestling, boxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in my week plans for the first block of three weeks. In the weight training elements of the pre-season plan I will consider the aspects needed for each individual player in consultation with him and his position coaches to determine whether he goes more into a speed/power based program, or a size or strength program. This is a similar arrangement when determining if a player is going to be training more for aerobic or anaerobic conditioning, based around the initial fitness test with the results specific to norms for his position. I consider training age, injury history profile, and position requirements when developing the individual program with the team environment.

This podcast details the process in the development of a pre-season plan, taking into consideration the individualization of neural, mechanical, and metabolic elements within the team environment.

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