Wrapping Up Week 1

Keeping Up with the Martlets
Team Journal

“Look to your left. Look to your right. Look behind you. Look in front of you. This is your team ladies. We support each other, we push each other, we love each other.”          ~Coach Laurent Fayen 

Thursday, September 3rd, 2015

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Week 2 of Preseason! The days have flown by, and yet it feels like the team has been together for nearly a month already. The Martlets have quickly adapted to the volume and intensity of daily practices, and the team is now ready to face more challenging practices in the season ahead.

A quick recap of our progress so far:

The focus of Week 1 was primarily fitness and establishing a firm grasp on the basics. Day 1 began with a team run up Mont Royal. Varying levels of fitness on the team were immediately apparent as the group gradually broke into different paces. Laurent encouraged the girls to stick together, pointing out that we’re going to get through this season as a team, not as individual players.  It was a powerful speech for the first day, and certainly set a strong precedent for teamwork that has come to define the rest of our work during Preseason training.

Le Chalet (The Lookout), Mont Royal

The following days followed a similar theme—lots and lots of running, sprinting, and agility drills.  The coaches also put an emphasis on muscular endurance, and incorporated strength and core conditioning exercises into daily fitness sessions. On top of these daily fitness practices (normally at 6:30am), the Martlets would have a field practice in the afternoon or evening.

On Day 5, the Martlets welcomed a pleasant change of scenery in the form of a spin class led by Laurent’s wife, Martha.  The class took place at Le Club Sportif MAA, a private fitness club in downtown Montreal that Laurent works at and generously allows the Martlets to use.  Early on Friday morning, the team filed into a small, dimly lit room lined with stationary bikes. Most of the team had never participated in a spin class before, and had no idea what to expect.  Martha helped the team adjust the bikes and then proceeded to lead the team through an interval workout on the bikes.  A disco ball spun from the ceiling, sending colored lights darting around the room, and music blasted as the team started spinning away.  Although very fun, the spin class turned out to be a brutally tough fitness session.  Legs burned, abs shook, and stepping off the bikes at the end felt like floating on air.  Still, it was significantly more fun and interesting than running fitness drills around Forbes field, and the team left happy and grateful for Martha’s time.

Spin Class at MAA

Day 6 presented the team’s first opportunity to play a full game as a team.  The Martlets played the Montreal Adult Field Hockey league in a series of small games on Saturday.  This provided a perfect opportunity for rookies to experience a University-level of play, as well as an opportunity for coaches and returning players to get a feel for player chemistry on the field.  The men and women on the Adult League were formidable opponents, but the new team put up a solid fight, proving that the past week of tireless training was paying off.  Notable strengths during these games were movement off the ball and overall team dynamic. A special shout-out goes out to rookies Tannis and Tania who showed off some killer ball handling on the attack, and to Jeanne who played a fantastic offensive game at mid.   

As Week 2 now comes to a close, the team has witnessed some serious progress.  The Martlets went on a second mountain run yesterday morning, and this time around, the team managed to stick together for the entirety of the run.  Rookies are learning fast and returners are rapidly adjusting to a virtually new team.  Fitness is improving exponentially, skills are developing by the day, and the level and intensity of play is increasing consistently.  The Martlets have established chemistry on and off the field.  For a group of girls who first met only 2 weeks ago, this is incredibly impressive and bodes well for the coming weeks.