DIRECTV North East Stars continued their pre season preparation this week by subjecting their players to a wide battery of testing to establish their fitness and highlight areas requiring improvement.
Former senior mens national team trainer, Gregory Searles conducted the 5 hour session aided by trainers from his Body Mechanics team. Searle, a strength and conditioning coach who specialises in corrective exercises and is also a licensed massage therapist and a movement skills coach, said " The aim of the testing on Saturday was to functionally screen a number of things. We looked at flexibility as well as static and transitional postural imbalances to see how much this would impact on their movement efficiency."
Searle, is a graduate of the Athlete's Performance 4 phase system (the world renowned performance education providers), and he is currently doing his Masters of Science in Human Movement specializing in Performance. He continued " We looked at core strength, bi-lateral and uni-lateral power for explosive ability. Acceleration, absolute speed, agility and aerobic/anaerobic capacity completed the battery of tests. It is very important to get this data in order to properly plan the program for these athletes."
Stars C.E.O. Brent Sancho said " This is something that I and Kevin Jefferey both saw in USA, and in England. This is the starting point of every clubs pre season training. Its not cheap, and respect must go to our President, Darryl Mahabir for recognising the importance of a constructed pre season training regime based on acquired indepth information to determine individual needs." Sancho added that the club is also focusing on the importance of diet and nutrition. "The players' body composition was also tested in an effort to plan meals and supplementation based on their results. As professionals, the players must be shown the importance of a profession lifestyle away from the training pitch."
North Easts' Operations Director, Kevin Harrison said "This really shows the level of professionalism being invoked at the club. This type of testing is essential to develop the maximum potential of footballers by identifying areas requiring improvement. This is common practice at English clubs from Premiership to League 2 and I am delighted that the club recognises the importance of this kind of intense personal development. It shows how serious we are about competing at the highest level and our sights are firmly set on qualifying for CONCACAF via the Caribbean Cup" Harrison also explained that the club would be supplying nutritional supplements to the players. "Ideally, we would like to issue each player with a diet together with the required foods, and I am currently contacting stores and suppliers to enter into a partnership with the club as official nutritional suppliers to North East Stars"
Searles, who's Body Mechanics team work with people requiring general fitness improvement as well as professional sportspeople added " I am very pleased to see DIRECTV North East Stars willing to make a commitment to developing their program. So far it has been a pleasure to work with the staff and the footballers. I am very impressed with the maturity of the players and their willingness to work no matter how insanely intense it gets."
Sancho, a former national team world cup player said " Speaking from experience, I know this level of training is very intensive and very tough, but the rewards and improvements give a player added confidence and their performance increases noticeably. One of the areas I'm really looking for improvement is explosive acceleration. We have a number of pacey players but they need to increase speed over the first five yards. This is one area where Gregory's expertise is invaluable."
Defensive midfielder, Marc Leslie said " We're all a little daunted by the programme over the next 2 months, but we know we will be at our absolute peak of fitness for our first game. Mr Searles certainly knows his stuff and, together with the North East coaching staff, will ensure this is the best prepared North East Stars squad we've ever had. I'm looking forward to improving my personal fitness and benefiting from the nutritional advice."