Broken Hill

Hello again, 

This weeks blog starts with the long and extremely boring drive firstly across the Hay plane spotting emu's then watching the Murray river flow through towns like Gol Gol and Wentworth then finally north across the desert to Broken Hill our first destination.

The roadshow gets into Broken Hill at about 5pm just in time for the boys to prepare themselves for the week ahead. I was partnered up with the head of AFL house Jason Mcpherson, we were taking training with North Broken Hill 1st grade AFL team. I started the session with a 10min dynamic warm up that used the whole body. Jason then took the guys through a range of different AFL drills which was a great learning experience for me as I hadn't done a whole lot of AFL drills. I took note of how Jason coached as he is quite a experience player and coach. He had some interesting ideas in how he liked to coach and it made me think about the way I would do things in the future. To finish our session I took the guys through a few new fitness drills which i made up the week before for my presentation and kept it very specific to they way these guys should be playing. 

The next day I had testing with two of the local high schools where we were out looking for talented young indigenous or multicultural children who could be selected for the GWS squad. I helped run these testing sessions with a few girls from our offices in Sydney and ex Brisbane lions, 3 time premiership winning player Chris Johnson.  The tests we performed were height, weight, age, sex, agility test, standing high jump, running high jump, 40m sprint and a beep test. The kids were all ranging in sporting capabilities but we found a few that might be used in the squad, most were just glad to get out and try something new and not be in class. After out testing we had an Aus Kick sign up day where we set up heaps if different drills and let the children go mad and just hung out and had a kick with them. 

On our last day out at the hill we travelled back down to the Murray river near Gol Gol and went to one last high school for testing where we found a few more young aboriginal kids one in particular who had springs in his shoes, the kid could jump. Then on the road again back to Wagga Wagga, it was a very long trip back. 

From this trip I learned a lot about mentoring. Chris who I spent a lot of time with acted as a mentor and encouraged and talked with all the young indigenous and multicultural children at all the schools we went to. His motivational talks and encouraging attitude really meant a lot to all those he helped. I tried to take on a very similar approach when testing the children as well and I believe I got better as the trip went on.

Thanks for reading Daniel Scroope

AFL NAB Cup

Hello again everyone.

The past week has been extremely busy for but also very memorable. With my internship with AFL NSW/ACT the past week has seen me help with the running of the recent NAB cup game that was held at the recently unveiled Robertson Oval in Wagga Wagga. Seeing first hand how some of the great players and coaches interact within the AFL and then also how they communicate, prepare and plan their daily routines around a game and the rest of the season.

Firstly I started out my day by giving a presentation on strength and conditioning at a local level 1 coaching course which the AFL asked me to help out with. I started by speaking about planning and making sure that as new coaches they are always walking into a session prepared and with a goal for the session but also a goal for the season. Next I spoke about some of the different principles of training such as overload, specificity, individuality, recovery and reversibility and how coaches should work with them to ensure they are getting the best out of their sessions. Lastly I gave the people an insight into some new and interesting ways to train their athletes firstly by trying to keep their sessions interesting but most importantly by trying to keep it sport specific and training the way you play.

During the coaching course we also got to here a presentation which was done by the 2 forward coaches from GWS. These guys gave us a little insight into the tactics that GWS are trying to employ but also reinforced what I said by showing some of their GPS data and saying how they train with specificity. It was good to see as one of the coaches told me the endurance training session I showed the guys was very specific and was a great idea.

Lastly in the course we herd from Tom Harley who is of the great Geelong players and now the head of NSW/ACT AFL. He spoke to us about preparation and how guys who stood out within his club such as the Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett and Jimmy Bartell all had the best preparation within the club. He was witness to these players being at the grounds first in the morning and last to leave at night and always pushing themselves to the max whilst making sure they do all thier recovery perfectly after each session. He told us they all weren't this way to start off with but some of them had to train hard to get this way except Selwood he was saying the mentality and commitment Joel had towards playing was freakish from word go and that's why he is the captain of Geelong at the age of 24.

Next on for the day we had lunch with the group doing the coaching course. The interesting thing that happened here was I was introduced to the great Kevin Sheedy and was able to here some of the great stories from a guy who has all the experience in he world. Great guy by the way.

The game then followed a lot of setting up and preparing for the crowd of 7000 or more to come. As the game approached I was busy with many jobs until the first quarter where I was able to sit down and watch a bit of the game. I was able to recognise some of things that the GWS coaches told us they were doing which was great to see. As the game went on I was asked to man a grandstand gate but also help out the GWS medical staff with some different things but what it ment to me was that I was able to spend a bit of time after half time in their change rooms. The interesting thing which I noticed in the change rooms was the white board which all the coaches had written on. In the quick glimpses which ivgot of this white board I could make out a game plan and in the middle was an outcome. Win against the Brisbane Lions. Everything that surrounded this outcome were things that needed to be fixed and continue to be done in order to reach this outcome. This was a great moment for me as it really gave me an insight as to how coaches at the top level of AFL operate and how the simple principles which we learn at university are being used in the real world.

Brisbane ended up winning by 3 points over the giants in a thriller and you could really see the disappointment on all GWS players faces at the end, they really wanted that win and came so close after leading almost the whole game.

2 days after the NAB cup game I was on the road with the AFL guys to Broken hill for a roadshow. Some great experiences were also had on this trip and some great people were met. But that will have to be for my next blog.

Thanks for reading Daniel Scroope.