The celebration from our National Tournament win was great and the much needed time off has approached. I originally was looking to go to the Philippines to visit family for a few days. But, there was a major hurricane/typhoon going through there and there were some major problems with flooding and people getting sick. I think I will wait for the holidays to visit family. Most of the guys were going to be out of town for the next two weeks and I was looking to get re-energized as well. Originally I was thinking of going to Hong Kong or Macau for a few days each. But I ended up deciding to stay in Dongguan and learn a little more about my surroundings. Also, they asked me if I would work with the junior team and the 2nd team players while they were in town.
I basically had a full week off before starting working with the younger players. As I mentioned before, this organization is exceptional. They have great talent at all levels. On Thursday and Friday of this week, I worked with one of the 1st team players and 3 of the second team players. The second team’s normal home base is in Guangzhou where there is a training academy for multiple sports. I worked with them in the mornings, doubling up on movement and strength training. I focused on some of the basics with the movement, teaching proper firing patterns and movement protocol for linear acceleration and multi-directional movement. These are some very athletic individuals and they seemed to pick it up very quickly.
For the strength workouts, I focused on a lot of functional/neuromuscular strength exercises, core and stability. I tend to see a lot of the same physiological characteristics as I do with a lot of other athletes i.e. lack of single leg stabilization, hip (core, glute, hamstring) strength and overused of the quads. So in the short time I am working with them, I want them to understand why they are doing the exercises rather than just telling them to do it. My translator did an excellent job transferring the reasoning behind the exercises. I hope to be able to work with the 2nd team more. I have already mentioned it to the 1st team coaches because that is the depth and future of the team and they should be trained and brought about to be productive in all aspects of their training.
In the afternoon, I worked with the junior team. These are the 12-15 year olds that go to a local sports academy and to my knowledge play under the association of the team. These kids were great to work with. I worked on similar things with them that I did the second team. Focusing on teaching them the proper way to move their bodies. It is always great to work with the younger players as well to teach them at a younger age. They have the ability to adapt their bodies more and starting them at a younger age will definitely be beneficial for the organization as they move up in the ranks. These kids were exceptional. At times, I complimented them on the great work and discipline they had. I could honestly say that they performed some of the movement exercises the best I have seen for kids their age. They had great attention to detail and were definitely will to learn.
I hope their close proximity will allow me to work with the younger guys as time goes on. It is a great feeling at all levels to see an athlete develop and improve.
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