Working as a S&C Coach in female Football and weekly periodization
- Sam Boylett-Long
- Jun 8, 2016
- 3 min read
Whilst interning at male football clubs in recent years, I had often thought how S&C coaches or sport scientists periodize training around the hectic calendar, including weeks with multiple fixtures, international breaks and injuries within the team.
It wasn’t until starting my new role as Head of Strength and Conditioning and sport science at Reading Women’s FC, that I realised the former was a walk in the park, when compared to dealing with the intricacies of the Women’s super league structure!
For those that aren’t aware – the season isn’t as straight forward as the men’s! It runs from March-November with a possibility of up to 3 games in a 10 day window! It also presents stretches of 4-5 weeks without fixtures due to international and cup fixture breaks.
SO what does this mean for S&C coaches or the medical department?
Well, so far this is a relatively new position for myself and the club, however I will try and provide some insight into my thoughts on S&C provision in Women’s Football and how myself and the medical department periodize around the season!
Firstly I believe it is of the utmost importance that the interdisciplinary team works closely together with good communication between all departments! Whether that’s using sport science and data to highlight weeks to the technical coach where more load/intensity can be placed upon players or backing off to allow a “super-compensation” to occur!
On the subject of the interdisciplinary team, I think people often get caught up in drawing lines between what is supposedly the S&C coach’s domain or a physiotherapist’s role. Specifically this can be most prominent with players returning to train/play.
In my opinion, surely it’s best for the player/s, for staff to pool resources and discuss ideas going forward into the athlete’s recovery/development! This can also open up new avenues in terms of CPD by branching across* to rehabbing players as an S&C coach or physios/sport therapists taking/aiding S&C sessions.
*Free learning opportunities, just by communicating and eliminating that gap!
Now, moving onto the nitty gritty, how is the week periodized!?
Well, not very easily!
Unfortunately we don’t have access to GPS just yet. However there was a recent article in the UKSCA’s Professional S&C quarterly journal discussing sessional RPE and RPE “trimp”.
RPE – Rating of perceived exertion
“Trimp” – training impulse, derived from RPE X session duration
Naturally RPE would be described as an internal marker of fatigue rather than an external marker (GPS/HR technologies) however, you would ideally collect both as a means of assessing individual response to the average workload recorded.
So how can I use RPE Trimp to set up the weekly load?
Well using excel and calculating the ideal sessional RPE “Trimp” across the week is a very powerful tool in illustrating how the week could be structured! Off the back of this, it becomes much easier to base S&C sessions around the technical coaches’ schedule.
In the above diagrams, using Sunday as game day you can see two approaches to periodizing the week. One using twin peaks throughout the week, one “heavier” day and game day, whilst the other features a tri-peak, two “heavy” days and the game day.
I am not going to suggest a model which works best as there are an almost endless amount of possibilities which ultimately depend on the time of the season etc. However, it is paramount that the interdisciplinary team discuss how best to periodize the week around the desired outcomes/goals for the squad etc.
In terms of periodizing S&C sessions for the squad, put simply, if there aren’t matches during the week then this clearly allows for a “heavier” session. The heavier session could encompass developing max strength/robustness or conditioning elements mentioned below!*
*Obviously this is heavily dependent upon what the technical coach has instore for the players! For example, if the session requires a higher degree of competency during the technical drill then perhaps it would be better to utilise light loads and focus on power based elements etc. Again tying in with communicating with other departments within the team!
As I mentioned earlier there are periods of time during the season which could be utilised as a mini pre-season. Whilst this isn’t a luxury afforded to the men’s leagues, it is very useful in increasing aerobic power, max speed, RSA and other metrics which may have been missed or underdeveloped in the actual pre-season.
In summary, the key take homes are: working as part of an interdisciplinary team, communicating ideas and thought processes to eliminate a divide between departments; being clever with periodization in season, trying to get the most bang for your buck!; and lastly utilising RPE Trimp to illustrate what the weekly structure could look like!
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