Conditioning is one of the most important ingredients to success in collegiate sports, yet it is often overlooked as a necessary element of success when compared to other team qualities such as talent and coaching.
The importance of conditioning does not seem lost on Virginia men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch, however. The highly successful coach has made fitness a priority for the Cavaliers this season. With a long season full of challenging opponents, conditioning will be a key factor in Virginia’s 2008 season.
Virginia is playing with a very young roster this year. Through five games, Gelnovatch has given extended playing time to five freshmen: forward Chris Agorsor, midfielder Tony Tchani, forward Brian Ownby, defender Hunter Jumper and defender Howard Turk. Turk and Jumper have started all five Virginia games on the backline, while Tchani, Agorsor and Ownby have started four, three and two games, respectively. In this light, conditioning becomes more important for Virginia because of the team’s relative lack of collegiate experience. In short, the Cavaliers will look to beat their opponents on sheer talent, speed and endurance to compensate for their lack of veteran players.
With that in mind, Gelnovatch began an intense conditioning program early, as the Cavaliers began running and working out well before classes began. Furthermore, Gelnovatch conducted two-a-day practices and instituted running tests during the preseason to prepare the Cavaliers for the long season ahead.
“There was some lifting and running we did prior to when the season began ... and we would play pick-up on our own,” senior midfielder David Newman said. “A little before the season started, we had running tests. We had to do the Cooper, which is two miles in 12 minutes. We started doing that in the spring.”
Newman noted that he believed the Cooper tests were a new part of the off-season conditioning program.
Virginia will play 17 regular-season games in 2008, including 8 contests against ACC foes. If Virginia is to succeed in its 2008 campaign, its level of conditioning will have a lot to do with that success.
“I think the whole preseason running and fitness [program] is helpful,” Newman said. “It’s hard, but it gets us prepared for the season.”
Unfortunately for Virginia, the Cavaliers are already under pressure to win more matches. Virginia currently stands at 2-3 overall and begins ACC play Friday night against N.C. State. Last Saturday, Virginia suffered a disappointing loss when it fell to Virginia Commonwealth 1-3 in Richmond.
“It’s early in the season,” Gelnovatch said. “We’ve got 17 regular season games, it’s a long season. But we’ll be fine.”
With conditioning at the forefront of team operations, Gelnovatch has also varied his lineup from game-to-game in order to maximize his team’s energy and efficiency. Adding to Virginia’s list of troubles is the fact that the Cavaliers have had to, and will continue to, play games on short rest. Virginia has already had two exhausting weekends in which it played a game Friday and Sunday, which does not allow for a long layover. Throughout the rest of the season, Virginia will play multiple Tuesday-Friday game sets, which will likely continue to force Gelnovatch to vary his lineup.
One player in particular, Agorsor, has seen limited time because of the strenuous schedule. The freshman forward has been a lightning bolt of energy for Virginia, and with Tchani, leads the team in scoring with three goals; however, Agorsor has only started three of the Cavaliers’ five games, despite his strong play.
“Coach [Gelnovatch] is trying to keep my body fresh because of how many games we’ve been playing recently,” Agorsor said.
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