Forty-three hours is all the Bobcats have for their bodies to recover from the exhausting end of one game to the start of the next.
Ohio soccer games fall mostly on Fridays and Sundays, and the Bobcats spend much of the time between the two games resting and loosening up their legs if they don’t have to travel.
Whenever the team plays twice during a weekend, coach Stacy Strauss and her staff get the players on the field every Saturday morning for an hour with the goal of prepping the team for Sunday.
“We kind of split up a little bit, and the practice is more light with stretching and just getting touches on the ball,” senior Kelsey Pichel said. “Then we cool down and attackers go and shoot, and some people play four-versus-four, and others watch video from the last game.”
The players study film from the previous game and prepare for the next with others at their positions. The team also plays side games with smaller field dimensions.
Assistant coach Amy Rossi then leads the Bobcats through agility drills to get them back to peak level. But extreme exertion often leads to exhaustion, not recovery.
“In order to get the players back to full strength, it’s best to do less,” Rossi said. “We come out based on the players that played or type of game we went through. A lot of times, it’s just a lot of jogging and stretching to get their legs loosened up. Recovery-wise, it’s best to just get moving a little bit.”
The players typically will do partner stretching and ice their legs to recover from Friday’s game. Ohio begins the morning workout with a group warm-up and stretching, and then the team breaks up based on positions to go over tactics for the next game.
The forwards work mostly on finishing, midfielders on disrupting play and the defenders on clearing out of the back.
“Recovery is the biggest role for the Saturday practice. We just like to get them loose with lots of stretching. Second to that is preparing for Sunday,” Strauss said.
With the short turnaround time for getting back to full strength can be tough for players.
“We’ll do a lot of stretching on Saturdays, and it’s a lot more light, and so then it doesn’t seem to affect us as much,” Pichel said.
During away games, the Bobcats spend lunch and dinner together. Each player meets with a nutritionist at least once about what she should eat before and after the game.
“We give them a lot of ownership, and we trust them to make the right decisions, and the upperclassmen do a really good job of that,” Strauss said.
Home games give the Bobcats time to rest and practice, but away games offer time for bonding.
Strauss said the team spends much of its time on the road together or studying. Some activities include visiting haunted houses, pumpkin patches or shopping malls. When another Ohio team will play in the area, they will go and watch, Strauss added. The Bobcats take a walk through the game field and, if they are able, practice on it to get a feel for the surface.
“Sometimes we’ll actually get in the hotel pool for injuries and ankle sprains or anything like that,” Rossi said. “The pool is really effective for recovery.”
mb832409@ohiou.edu
