Tamaki Sports Academy

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2018 summer programme

Do you want to be bigger, stronger, and faster by Xmas? Tamaki Sports Academy is offering a free off-season training programme for up to twenty Auckland or Counties 17-19 year old rugby league players who are aiming to break into the Jersey Flegg (NSW U20) competition, or to make a Fox team in the ARL competition.

If you are interested in registering for this programme, or want to know more, do one of these things

• join the 'Richmond XLR8 Combine' group on Facebook
   
  
• email metal@tamakisports.nz
   
  
• drop into Mickey B's gym at 26 Williamson Ave, Grey Lynn between 5 and 7pm Monday to Friday.
   
  
• Register
   
  
• Phone 021 2639800
   
  
• Come along to our first whole squad session and feed at the Richmond Rovers clubrooms (Grey Lynn Park) at 6.00pm Monday 10 September.
   
  

High performing teenage rugby league players have a short window in which to hit the gym and build bulk and strength after the club season ends. The way league works in New Zealand is that the secondary school champs take place early in September, the national age group champs early in October, the ARL U16 and U18 'North vs South' games in September, NZ U18 and U16 games in mid or late October, the Maori nationals at the end of October, and then it's the Warriors' off-season for development and academy players from 1 November until Xmas. Games are on again from late January with the Pacific Cup or the NZRL development programme.

Despite all this, somewhere in the period between the end of the club season and Christmas 16-19 year old rugby league players who hope to play NRL have to find 10 weeks to hit the gym three or four times a week, while limiting their running. This is the time for a serious weight training programme - lifting heavy weights slowly and through the full range of movement - with the aim of adding bulk and strength. That is what we are doing before Xmas.

The central concept is periodisation. We divide the year into three periods. There is the off-season between the end of play and Christmas. The pre-season from January until March, and then the season itself. The off-season is the time to fix injuries, build bulk and strength, and add skills. The pre-season is the time to build fitness and build teams. There is some overlap between off-season and pre-season. The transition is not sharp. The transition is a lot sharper between the end of the season and the start of the off-season because there is generally a 2-4 week rest period after the season ends.

There is quite a lot of flexibility around what we do in January. It takes about six weeks to build a fitness base for the season in a young man. More time is needed as players get older. This is one reason why NRL teams start their pre-season on Nov 1, and call it off-season. However, if your league season does not start until April, or even May, then January is available as a time to focus on strength and power, with more fitness than in December.

So, that's the big picture of our programme. We are looking for an average (median) weight gain of 6kg before Christmas, while keeping Bronco times of the squad to a median of six minutes and a maximum of 6:30. There will be some work on skills, including defensive patterns and attacking moves in December.

In January we will concentrate more on power and speed, and aim for an average (median) 20 second reduction in Bronco times. Gym programmes will change but we still expect three gym sessions per week.

In the pre-season proper our focus shifts again to fitness, individual skills, and team plays.

First up is a testing day, one Saturday early in September from 9am. This is simple enough. You will proceed through four testing stations where we will measure body composition, speed, strength, and fitness. Based on these results and your goals we will suggest a training programme for you. After lunch we will discuss this and make sure you can perform the various gym exercises with good form. We will provide you with feedback on how you compare to Jersey Flegg and Fox players.

Once a week the whole group will meet for a 40 minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session with a feed and chat afterwards. Once a week circuit training has been shown to increase the benefits of strength, speed, and fitness programmes.

Once a month we will retest and review. We expect you to be at the gym three or four times a week before Xmas. You might have other sport commitments before Xmas. We realize this. One or two aerobic sessions a week are fine, but too much running will reduce your size and strength gains. You might want a few weeks off before starting the programme. That’s fine too, but make the testing if at all possible.