Watford Ladies FC have been busy this summer in preparation for the new season.
On top of winning the National Umbro 5’s title at Wembley Stadium the girls have been put through their paces at “Boot Camp” by the staff of Odyssey Health Club in Knebworth.
Their next challenge will be the National Futsal Finals this weekend in Sheffield and the girls are hoping that their hard work will pay off. Whilst they will be without several players who are away with the England U23 squad and at the World Student Games they still have a strong group of players to travel and will be hoping to replicate their success of 2007 when they came back as National Champions.
The gruelling but hugely beneficial course has been tailored to suit a football team and is based upon the exercises that might be found in an army training camp. The ladies have been crawling under nets, lifting huge lorry tyres and dragging punch bags around in order to strengthen themselves!
Team Manager Sian Williams said “I started going to the regular course and felt that it could be a great benefit to the team. We have quite a young and physically small squad and I thought that the exercises would compliment our preseason program as they are functional and therefore avoid many of the risks of muscle imbalances athletes can get through incorrect strength training.
The girls have really enjoyed the course as the environment is very different to our normal training. The Odyssey staff have been excellent and have adjusted exercises to meet the requirements of footballers; they are also friendly and push the players hard but in the right way.
Odyssey can offer the course at different levels of ability and can tailor it to suit various sports also. It could be an excellent addition to any team or athletes’ training preseason schedule as it will bring variety to a program. As they have the 5-a-side pitches there also, we have found it to be a great venue for a training session – coupling some football with the “Boot Camp”. I think that clubs and players at all levels could find this to be a fun way to compliment their preseason schedule.”
Contact Odyssey on 01438 313 320 for more information