Aspire in the World Fellows Book - 2022

49 48 Second Half Mattia Modonutti: National Teams Football Performance Coordinator – FIGC My duty in the Italian Federation is to try to place every person of the performance staff in the best condition to deliver their best. Apart from that, I’m a practitioner, so I’m a fitness coach on the pitch and that’s trying to be the best to compete at the highest international competitions. In terms of recovery, I think we need to start with good planning. Of course, we travel to compete and of course the competition period is a congested period for us because we have shorter camps, and we need to compete at our best. I think it’s crucial to have good planning, good travel, good accommodation, a good facility and choosing the right distance from the pitches. Of course, after that, the base is agitation, sleep, training plans as well as what we do during the training, what the stress is involved from the training and how we recover from that specific stress. It’s important for the players to know themselves, be able to communicate and to be aware what is happening during and after the training. They need to know what stress they can cope with, when the stress is too much for them and to create the kind of environment for them to share that with the practitioners. It’s good to know for them that stress is part of the training. We are there to support their recovery, but of course they need to feel something after the training or matches. It’s normal to be asked to compete at a hundred percent or beyond, even when you are not at that level. It’s normal if you’re in a group stage or European Championship to compete at a high level, even if you’re not at your best. It’s important for us to build up that kind of environment to communicate this kind of information and to be able to have the right discussions on the mental side. For us, we not only use just what the science said is working, but what the players perceive is working as well. We have some players who benefit from the ice bath, other players don’t want to do it. Some players love foam rolling, other players are not into it. It’s important for us to be aware, be ready to listen to them and see what they perceive is working for them, as well as closing the gap between the Federation and the Club. For us it is important to know what they do after a game with their own club, because we have a team composed of players from different clubs. At the end they need to feel that we take care of them, not just having more information. I don’t I want to put aside the science, but to use the science in the proper way to be ready to compete at their best, even when they are not. We should also start to look at recovery strategies for staff. We are in a particular position because in National Teams, we compete in a very short period. We don’t have much time to do rotation of the staff or give free days to fitness coaches or physiotherapists. For sure we need to address that with the coaching staff and my role as coordinator is to take care of that side of the game. At the end of the day, it’s impacting a lot on the pitch as well. The Italian culture is where food looks good and tastes nice, sometimes even too much. The idea is to have the right conversation about what we need to implement in terms of nutrition and recovery and what is done on the pitch. We are lucky enough to have the nutrition side implemented in the performance area. We have conversations and we set a main goal for each one of the training sessions. Then, based on RPE, based on external load and everything else, we have conversations with the nutritionist and say this might be the most exposed to fatigue or this might be the most exposed to soreness. In that case, we try to allocate the proper implementation to each one of them. In terms of nutrition, our staff is trained in biology as well. They really know where the things we are giving to the player are coming from. We have someone that needs to educate towards proper implementation but usually we don’t face some challenges in that area. The youth especially are quite used to taking something after the matches, especially if it’s with their names on and we explain to them why. It comes down to sharing and knowing why we are giving what we are giving. If supplements are proposed to players, they accept it. What I like for them is not to be passive in that process, so to know why they are taking what they’re taking, to engage them in the process. I don’t think they really require something, except if it’s already a habit in their club and it’s something that they really know they need. I think the best way is to engage them in the process and not say just take that because it’s good. If I had all the money in the world, I think it’s going down to the basics and trying to do the best recovery for that individual player. It is boring, but that is the message for me. Jack Ade: Academy Sports Science Fitness Department – Liverpool FC At Liverpool, it’s a developmental program where the result is not everything. We don’t often have fixture congestion, sometimes at under 21’s and under 18’s. We monitor the training response and keep a close eye on data. We follow a periodization model, and the number one thing is planning. The big challenge is that we have players playing in multiple different tournaments. We need to know where they are in terms of maturation and their chronic load from a game point of view so they’re all going to require slightly different programs. The main thing is having an individualized approach and making sure we have communication with the coaching staff. As support staff, we need to have good relationships with the players. It might be that we’ve done a session, the first team session and it hasn’t quite followed our typical loading pattern, but that’s not an excuse. It’s now on the player to recover properly and we’ll do all the right things in terms of giving them the right nutrition and recovery strategies. So, the education part in the academy is massive. At the forefront of the mind, we must always be thinking about psychology and the social aspect. The players and the staff have quickly found out that day off after an away game isn’t much of a day off because you are absolutely wiped out for that day. They would rather that we report at 2:00 PM in the afternoon and do some recovery strategies or additional work, and then we have a day off. That’s considering more of the psychological/social side of things. I believe for staff retention and wellbeing, if the staff are not in a good place, the players are going to feel this, and they’re not going to develop and respond the way that we want. It’s difficult for staff recovery, because as a fitness coach, you are aligned with the squad and with the head coach. If you are playing four games in two weeks, he’s not taking a day off, so you won’t either. If you can have empathy as a coach somewhere to try and just give them a little bit of time, I’d guarantee you’ll then get a lot more in return. We use breathing and meditation as well, occasionally a Pilates or yoga instructor will come in and take the group for some stretching, just so it’s a different voice. Equally there’s nothing better than getting in the pool, playing with a ball and all of a sudden from the social and enjoyment side, that’s worth its weight in gold. We’ve also got a fantastic nutritionist for our first team, who’s come in and really opened everybody’s eyes to how varied the diet can be whilst getting the correct nutrients in. We are lucky that we have a full-time academy nutritionist and there’s workshops that happen with under 14’s up. The main thing for me is that it has to look and taste nice. The people who do it have to be passionate about food and engaging players, not passionate about macro and micronutrients from a university. It’s important because within our club and lots of clubs, we have different cultures, different backgrounds and different beliefs. If I had all the money in the world, I would facilitate beds wherever possible and try to facilitate the opportunity to get sleep in a calm, relaxing environment. That would be the one, however you could facilitate that.