Oceania’s most interesting set to do battle in soccer World Cup qualifiers beginning Thursday
Oceania’s most interesting set to do battle in soccer World Cup qualifiers beginning Thursday
With Covid-19 having blighted preparations, many workforce contesting to start with of the boys’s Oceania World Cup Qualifiers shall be ring-rusty.
Photograph: OFC
The qualifiers, being held within the Qatar capital Doha, had been as a result of be held final September however the pandemic scuppered that plan.
It implies that few of the eight groups have had a lot sport time or been in a…
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Australia and Oceania's Crisis Centres and Hotlines
Australia and Oceania’s Crisis Centres and Hotlines
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24 hours crisis line: 1737
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24 hours crisis line: 0800 543 354
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24 hours crisis line: 0800 611 116
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There’s 2 weeks left until Oceanias. There’s lots going on in everyone’s lives with work, uni or school not to mention trainings! Stress is at an all time high right now and some of you may feel like you’re running out of time! If this sounds like you, what should you be doing? Or more importantly, what shouldn’t you be doing?
What not to do:
First off, what you SHOULDN’T be doing is training harder than you have for the past few weeks. I get that it’s frustrating when you have only limited time and you haven’t got anything nailed and you feel like you’re about to breakdown every training because you can’t get anything right and so you train harder because that’s how you’ll get that routine perfect, right? WRONG. By doing this not only will you be tiring yourself out and draining yourself before a big competition, but you will increase the risk of injury. The more stressed we are, the higher the risk because the less careful we become. This is the time to taper off to save yourself for Oceanias. What you don’t have nailed by now, you won’t have nailed by Oceanias. This is the time for tidying things up not putting things together.
What you SHOULD do:
-Rehab: BIG part of the weeks leading up to Oceanias. Educate yourself on foam rolling for sore muscles. Get yourself some arnica cream, visit a physio, get a massage, STRETCH the sore muscles, SLEEP, get some good nutritious food in you (lots of fruit, lots of VEGETABLES, whole grains and complex carbs like brown rice/pasta/kumara and some high quality protein such as beans, spinach, kale, chicken, lean beef, no processed stuff. If it’s in a box and has lots of ingredients, it’s probably not good for you) cut the fast food and junk (no athlete should ever be eating fast food on a regular basis in the first place anyway), drink plenty of water and concentrate on getting a good warm up and warm down routine that you can repeat every time you come to training, official trainings and competition.
-Routines: if you’re not already, only do routines. Stick to this as much as you can. After a warm up, go straight into your routines with music. Pretend you’re performing every time. Do NOT tire yourself out every training. This is your recovery time.
-Mental training: Huge part of this crucial time. Imagine competition day in your head. Do your hair and make up in your head, put on your leo, warm up, imagine the crowd and the other skaters, what you will do at the marshalling area, then especially concentrate on your performance. Imagine coming off the floor and feeling good. Do this every time before you fall asleep, on the bus, in the car on the way to school/training, when you wake up or when warming up or down for skating. Practise your breathing when imagining the moment before you’re just about to go on the floor. Picture your routines in as much detail as possible. Listen to your music. Practise difficult steps/jumps/spins in your head if they’re not working. This is a great way to avoid getting tired/injured but still getting training in. I’ve relied almost entirely on visualisation this year because of lack of time and dealing with injuries and stress.
Off skate training: Concentrate on rehab. Lots of gentle stretching, lots of visualisation. The idea is to maintain your fitness, not improve it. If you’re unfit now, you’re gonna be unfit for oceas. It’s now too late to start anything new so keep doing what you’ve been doing cos there’s no point in risking an injury. If you’ve been doing some training at the gym, take it easy, be smart, don’t try new things/weights. The week right before we leave, do not do off skate. Only stretch and concentrate on getting your performance together.
This is definitely what I’m feeling right now so this post is as much directed at me as it is to you. I often find I know all the right things but I don’t necessarily do them. If this is you as well, take this as a reminder that you should be slowing down. So let’s take some deep breaths and trust that your training up until now will come together right when you need it. You have done everything you can. Now let’s just enjoy it! And if you don't feel ready, fake it till you make it
with Oceania squad fast approaching, I thought it’d be a good idea to get some experiences up on the blog for us to enjoy! But especially for the newbies in the team. Bonny and I don’t want to be the only ones to write on here, we want it to be a one stop shop for lots of different ideas and stories for New Zealand skaters! (and maybe in the future some overseas skaters as well!) So to start us off, I asked my sister Mercedes to write a little about her first Oceania experience. Hope you enjoy!
Macarena
Do you have any ideas, stories, tips, recipes or anything else you'd like to share with the rest of New Zealand's skaters? Get in contact with us for the chance to feature on our blog at [email protected]
Photography by Laurelle Jones
By Mercedes
My first Oceania competition was last year (2014). I competed in Cadet Solo Dance.
The Oceania squad was quiet for me because I was only in one event so I only skated a little bit. There was heaps of off skate work. We did fitness testing (like how many shuttle runs you can do in 10 minutes) so we could see how much we improve over time. I didn’t like doing it at the squad because I pushed myself hard to get the best result then I had to skate for the rest of the weekend.
I stayed at the Lupton’s house with Hannah Calderon. We learnt about drug testing at the squad and some warm up exercises to do before competitions. I also got a taste for what Oceanias was going to be like. By the end of the squad I was very tired and had made some new friends.
Leading up to Oceanias, I don’t think I did any off skate training. My on skate trainings were filled with heaps of routines/rounds of dance where I tried to perform as if I was at the competition. I only stretched 3 times a week after skating training. This year I’m also doing Macarena’s 12 week guide, which includes workouts on arms/back, legs/butt and abs. I’m now stretching up to 6 times a week, every time after skating and after a workout.
I thought Oceanias was going to be more busy and scary, but I actually had a lot of free time but that is probably because I only competed in one event. This year will be the complete opposite. I’m in 3 events so I’m worried I’ll be too busy and not have much time for friends or myself. Before Oceanias, I thought there would be more Australians and that our teams would mix and hang out together. I watched the Oceanias in Auckland (2012) and I saw that the aussies and kiwis were sitting together so that’s what I expected last year. This year I hope to speak to more aussies because last year I only talked to them at the social.
My warm up for my event was simple. I ran around for a bit, did some star jumps to get warm and then went through my dances/routines. I visualised my freedance with my music on my iPod and just imagined the music for dance and performed it off skates. In between my dances I took my skates off and did off skates in the corner, trying to keep warm. This year, I will add the warm up Hugo taught us at his squad and try to make it longer, or start warming up later as I had too much time before I skated and I didn’t know what to do. This year I’m also warming up for every training like I would for a competition. This way, I know how I’m going to warm up on the day instead of deciding what to do on the day and then not knowing how I’ll feel once I’m on skates.
Performing at my first oceas felt really good. It was a new crowd that I’d never skated in front of so it was scarier than usual. I was so nervous going onto the floor and before that but after a few seconds of the music I started to relax and really enjoy it. I was super happy with my results as I came first in cadet solo dance.
This year I’m really looking forward to performing in dance, free and precision. But I’m probably most excited for freedance and precision because they’re so much fun to skate. I’m also looking forward to seeing Australia in general as I’ve never been there. This Oceas, my results oriented goals are to get in the top half of the free grade, top 3 in dance and first in precision.
I'm really excited for this Oceas! I can't wait to see all the other skaters!
Do you have any ideas, stories, tips, recipes or anything else you'd like to share with the rest of New Zealand's skaters? Get in contact with us for the chance to feature on our blog at [email protected]
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