Training regimen implemented for BVS
by Gabi Weisel

The ideal summer for most soccer players and athletes involves sitting on the couch and watching the 1 p.m. Sportscenter while eating breakfast. However, for the boys varsity soccer team, the summer has become a time of intense training.

According to Head Coach Robert Bokman, last year’s team came into the season out of shape and the team lost practice time while the players caught up on their conditioning. In order to play on this season’s team, Bokman instituted a new rule that all members of the team would be required to run a mile-and-a-half in nine minutes and 45 seconds.

“When we came in last year on the first day of tryouts I saw that we were really unfit and we had a long way to go. So, basically the goal was to be fit by the end of the season. That really set us back. So I knew that this year we couldn’t have that, so I wanted them to have at least some fitness taken care of before we started so we could just move on and get more done,” he said.

In order to meet the time requirement, many of the players made sure to run and stay active over the summer.
“I ran at least five times over the summer and I played for the D.C. United youth team to stay in shape. And also I played for the Maryland state team,” said junior Ari Kobren.

Senior captain David May took the workouts a step further and organized summer practices for the team, which included both running and soccer drills.

“[During summer practices] we’d start out with a run, whether it be laps around the field or one of the courses charted out by the track team, so we knew the distance and measured our times and compared to see how our times relate to the mile-and-a-half. And we’d do a lot of technique and one-on-one, trying to get people comfortable with the ball,” said May.

At practices this fall, conditioning has remained a focal point of the team in order to keep the players in peak shape for the season.

“There’s a lot of conditioning and drills we run in order to keep in shape and on top of our game. And we don’t get that much break time, like a couple for water, so most of the time we stay active,” said senior Osher Masica.
Bokman is already noticing the difference between this and last year’s teams.

“We’re at a much better place this year than we were last year. The kids are more fit, able to do more things, cover more ground on the field, and play for longer; it’s been a great help so far. We’re way ahead of where we were last year,” he said.

The players also have noticed the difference.

“Last season when we were starting off we were in terrible physical shape, but this year we have a huge jump ahead in our stamina and our level of play. I think it will put a brand new spin on things for the upcoming season,” said senior Ari Evans.

With the Jewish holidays, however, the team will have limited opportunity to practice and Bokman has told the players to continue working out individually during that time, in addition to scheduling Sunday practices.

“They’ll have homework to run a couple of miles in a certain amount of time, but the other thing is that we are going to have some Sunday training sessions,” said Bokman.

Although the conditioning requirements have been difficult, the players feel that the extra work will pay off during games.

“It’s going to help a lot because the starters are going to be able to last for much longer and the people on the bench are going to help us with fresh legs when they step on the field,” said Kobren.