Hockey Conditioned for World Cup Success

 

by James Skitt - 05.03.10

European Champions England have made an impressive start to their FIH Hockey World Cup campaign in Delhi this week, winning all their Pool B matches to date including a first victory over Australia in 25 years.

Despite preparations for the tournament being affected by security concerns and the wintry British weather, the squad couldn’t be in better shape according to English Institute of Sport (EIS) Strength and Conditioning Coach Andy Hudson, who supports the squad at the EIS High Performance Centre at Bisham Abbey.

“The preparation has been a little unconventional due to the poor weather in January and the security issues surrounding the tournament” Hudson told eis2win.co.uk. “However despite this the tests we did during our final preparation showed the players were in an excellent physical condition before they headed to India.”

England won the European Championships last August but then claimed just one win in six matches at December’s Champions Trophy. However Hudson insists the target was always to be well prepared for the World Cup.

“The last twelve months has been very much a case of continuing the work that’s been in progress for a good while now, however we targeted the players conditioning to hit a mini peak for the European Championships because it doubled up as World Cup qualifying, before using the period which included the Champions Trophy as time to develop the players with a long term view to being in the best possible shape for the World Cup.”

“The most important thing from my perspective is to ensure the players are conditioned so as they are able to do whatever their coaches require of them and hopefully despite some of the challenges we’ve had in the build up (to the world cup) we’ve managed to achieve that.”

England followed up their 3-2 victory over Australia with wins against South Africa (6-4) and Pakistan (5-2), before completing their pool fixtures against host India on Saturday and Spain on Monday.

The EIS works with both the England and GB men's and women's sqauds, which utilise the expertise of dedicated Strength & Conditioning Coaches, Performance Lifestyle Advisors, Nutritionists and Physiotherapists at Bisham High Performance Centre, as well as having access to a range of EIS support services locally for athletes across the country.

A video featuring how the EIS is helping England's women prepare for a busy summer ahead can be viewed here on EHTV, whilst you can keep up to date with all the latest from the FIH World Cup via the England Hockey website here

Photography © Getty Images