By Doug Reed @DougReedFutsal

Zagreb based Alumnus recently claimed the Croatian Championship for the first time in their history. Their victory came as a surprise to many as the club’s budget is relatively modest. However those that knew the work that was taking place behind the scenes, implemented by their highly regarded coaching staff, knew they were capable of claiming the title. One of those responsible is Alan Sinovcic, the club’s fitness coach.

Since the start of the season, Sinovcic had planned and implemented a program to ensure that the players reached exceptional fitness levels and were able to maintain this throughout the season. Alumnus arrived to the championship final against Novo Vrijeme in peak condition and their superior physical attributes compared to their rivals was one of the reasons they were able to defeat their opponents over a testing five game series.

Though only working part-time with the team his results were outstanding. This was evident not only from the observable physical condition of the players but also the incredible fact that the squad went throughout the entire season without a single injury. His methods focused on creating a solid foundation of motor skills for each player working on skills such as speed, agility and co-ordination as well as aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Included in this were exercises to prevent injury.

However having knowledge of fitness training is not enough as Sinovcic explains “Every fitness coach that works in futsal must know and must understand the game of futsal. You can’t create training sessions, plan the periodisation, target the correct time for form to peak if you don’t understand every aspect of futsal.”

The players embraced Sinovcic’s methods. One reason for this was the way he integrated his work within the training sessions of Head Coach Mico Martic. Traditional approaches separated fitness training from the training that improved other aspects required to play futsal at the elite level. However this is neither an efficient nor optimal way to achieve results. The Alumnus fitness coach explained “A modern fitness coach can’t just be a fitness coach; He must incorporate strength and conditioning training sessions as a part of the technical and tactical coaching.”

Sinovcic philosophy of maximising all round performance and well-being of the athlete, rather than solely the fitness component, has led to a growing reputation. He is currently working with athletes from various sports who want to obtain the benefits of his work. As regard to Alumnus, they are now focusing on preparing for the forthcoming season, where they will have the added challenge of the UEFA Futsal Cup.







Posted by Doug Reed -@DougReedFutsal --> info@futsalplanet.com