Starting on Tuesday March 16th (weather permitting) we will return to training at Hill Street Park. The sessions will run from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at Hill Street Park in Frederick, off the Golden Mile (Rt-40 west). Please get there early if you can to work on additional rugby skills. Equipment will usually be available by 7:00pm

Directions to Hill Street Park, Frederick:
(Mapquest use 290 Hill Street, Frederick, MD)

• Take Rt15 to Rt-40 west (Golden Mile)
• Go for about 1.5 miles and turn left onto McCain Drive – this is just before Home Depot and the Frederick Towne Mall on your right and the Mountain View diner on your left
• Turn left onto Orchard Way (first left)
• At the T-junction with Hill Street turn right
• Go to the top of the hill to enter the park

We trained here last fall.

You can also get to the park from Hillcrest Drive
• Take Rt15 to Rt-40 west (Golden Mile)
• Turn left onto Hillcrest Drive (traffic light) – this is just past the Outback on your right and Taco Bell on your left
• Turn right into Hill Street
• If you hit the 4-way stop at McCain Drive you have gone too far
• This way is a little trickier at first as Hill Street is tough to find this way

Please note that this is a City of Frederick field and as such will be closed if it rains. Match Secretary Steve Strickland will send out an e-mail with alternative plans should we get bumped off the field.

Time is very strictly controlled at the SoccerPlex – we go on after youth lacrosse or soccer and men’s soccer comes in right after us so please be ready to go (stretched/changed) by 8:00pm – we are off by 9:25pm.

I’ll put a link to their web site here (http://www.mdsoccerplex.org/), the dates of these sessions and directions below. The place is pretty expensive – we’ll cover costs by collecting $40 per person (works out at $5 a session). Please have that money ready for the first session – cash or check made out to FRFC.

SoccerPlex Schedule (Mondays 8:00pm – 9:30pm):
• January 18th 2010
• January 25th 2010
• February 1st 2010
• February 8th 2010
• February 15th 2010
• February 22th 2010
• March 1st 2010
• March 8th 2010

Directions to the Germantown SoccerPlex (from Frederick):
• Take I-270 south to Rt-118
• Turn right (west) on Rt-118 and drive for about 2 miles.
• Cross over Rt-117 (Clopper Road) then turn right at the next light onto Richter Farm Road
• Turn left onto Schaeffer Road go for about ½ a mile and turn right (traffic circle) onto Central Park Circle.
• The Discovery Sports Center is about 1 mile on the right.

Dave Gentzel will once again be running fitness training each Thursday at 7:30pm in Frederick - starting December 3rd. This is a really big coup for us – Dave is really good at this. You’ll get a Thursday workout plus be able to pick Dave’s brain for extra work out ideas for the rest of the week.

Cost is $5 per player – for the whole winter (when you first show up - thanks).

• Where: Tennis courts in Baker Park (right next to the rugby pitch - corner of 2nd and College Ave).
• When: 7:30pm each Thursday
• Details: Bring running shoes - the sessions are a mixture of rugby skills and agility/fitness performed on the tennis court. Outdoors so dress accordingly. Sessions run for 60 minutes - no more!

Directions to the tennis courts in Baker Park (Frederick):

From Rt-15 take the Rosemont Avenue exit. If coming from the South, go straight through the light off the ramp onto West 2nd Street. You'll see the beginning of the park on your right. If coming from the North, go right off the ramp (back under Rt-15) and take the first right onto West 2nd Street. Proceed straight for about 1 mile - go straight through a 4-way stop (College Terrace) and a traffic light (College Avenue). The tennis courts are on your immediate right, just park on the road. NOTE: If you've reached Bentz Street, you've gone too far. We will be on field 2

Summer training will start on Tuesday 19th May and run through August, each Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Training will be held in Walkersville/north Frederick (see directions below) – about 5 minutes further north on Rt-15 from the Rt-40 intersection. The practice field is private property so is not regulated by the City of Frederick and as such will remain open even if it rains. Obviously if there is a thunderstorm training will be cancelled.

Frederick will attend several 7s tournaments over the summer and plan to attend the Atlantic Cup beach 15s tournament (August 15- 16). The MARFU south schedule will be released in about a month – only news I have (from Match Secretary Steve Strickland) is that Western Suburbs have moved up to D2 from D3 (a good local team – Manassas, VA area).

College players back in the area for summer vacation are welcome to train with the team and play in tournaments. Please just contact Steve Strickland at s_strick9@yahoo.com

Directions to the Practice Field on Monocacy Blvd, Walkersville
-Take Rt-15 north to the Rt-26 exit
-At the second light turn left onto Monocacy Blvd
-Make a sharp left turn into an industrial park and drive behind a large warehouse
-Park at the back of the warehouse – the field is on the right running along Monocacy Blvd.

There really are a lot of positive benefits from this kind of training – I’ve summarized the top 7 advantages over forwards running below – but please read the publication "BACKWARDS RUNNING" (or at least the “Benefits of backwards running” section) – I think you’ll find it really illuminating.

1. You run on your toes – like sprinting – so the training is less jarring on your feet, knees and back.
2. Works your quadriceps but not your hamstring, giving more “balance” to leg development. Normal forwards running over develops the hamstring setting up all sorts of back and knee problems.
3. Your calves get a real workout (because you are on your toes).
4. Great for rehabbing knees after surgery, less impact/jarring than running forwards.
5. Develops balance – particularly if you box while running – boxers use this training to practice jabbing off balance.
6. Posture – your back is straight, shoulders back and head raised in a partial extension.
7. It is something different – you concentrate more on not falling over or crashing into things that you do on how tired you feel!

1. 50-75-100…sprints up and back 4 times.
2. With partner- backwards running across court, sprint back and tag partner. Each person will go 4 times.
3. Suicides- pick 5 lines on tennis courts and run and touch each line and return. Give 1 min. rest between sets. 2x
4. Partner push ups- alternating counting to 20- 2 sets with 1 min. rest.
5. Sit-up 30- 2 sets with 1 min. rest.
6. Walking lunges across courts.

1. 50-75-100…. sprints up and back 4 times
2. 4 corners: Set up 4 stations around courts
   Ball touches
   Elbows and toes- keep body straight
   Squats
   Crunches
3. Each stations last for 1 min. then run to the next. Go through stations 2 times.
4. Backwards running with partner- 3 min.
5. Walking lunges.

1. Ankle rolls/flips
2. Walking toe touch
3. Walking quads
4. Walking groin
5. Backwards fence
6. Frankenstein walk
7. High knees
8. Butt kicks
9. Knee to chest
10. Side fence
11. Karaoke
12. Side lunges
13. Sumo squats
14. Walking lunges
15. Speed skip
16. Power skip

1. Fitness:
   Start off with 5 minutes of ball handling drills followed by six dynamic flex stretches and static stretches to warm up.
   Set up three cones 15m apart and get pairs on the middle cone. The drill involves sprinting 15m, turning and sprinting 30m then turning and sprinting the last 15m – each player taking a turn. Ball in two hands all the time
   
   Sets 1- 4: just sprinting
   Sets 5-6: swerving
   Set 7: 5 push-ups at start and each turn
   Set 8: 5 sit-ups at start and each turn
   Set 9: 5 squats at start and each turn
   Set 10: 5 star jumps at start and each turn


2. Sprint Training:
   6 x 10m sprint
   6 x 10m sprint from “on your face”
   6 x 10m sprint from “on your face” then a 10m sprint at 45-degree angle
   6 x 10m + 30m (jog 10m then sprint 30m)


3. Form Drills:
   1: Roll up on your toes
   2: Pull knee into chest
   3: Pull ankle up
   4: Kaisers
   5: Skip for height (plyometric skip)
   6: Skip for speed
   7: High knees rapid turnover and use arms
   8: Butt kicks high turnover and use arms
   9: Sideways over, over under
   10: Walking lunges but put elbow down to the ground

Choose one lower body and one upper body routine. The best-case scenario is two days upper body and two days lower body each week, but if you hit one upper and one lower and work it hard you will be fine. Finish each session with the abs workout. Each workout should be done for 6 weeks then change up.

I took a guess as to how many calories you need, say you take in on average 2800 calories a day. Your diet should be around 30% protein and 70% carbs so you will need (1820 calories or 1 pound of carbs). You should always eat a few hours before an event so spread the carbs out between say a bagel with cream cheese, bread with jelly, pasta, oatmeal and banana. Try to stay away from too much fiber because that can cause stomachaches. Orange juice is always good as well as Gatorade. Also, be sure to eat carbs after a match so that your muscles can recover. If you tend to eat more or less calories than 2800 just adjust the number of grams of carbs.