Sunday, March 16, 2008

What Time Is It? [UPDATED] with comments from Steve Cronin

Now that we're all back from Dallas we can start to wrap our heads around the latest innovation from our new fitness coach Chris Neville.

Despite the two hour time change between LA and Dallas, Chris attempted to minimize that effect by keeping our entire schedule on Pacific Time for the entire trip. Not only was everything from our meals to our departures to the actual kickoff time of the game was listed two hours behind the actual time on the itineraries that all of the players receive the day before we depart, but even the times that we scheduled events for was changed.

For example, rather than have all meals on local time (breakfast at 9 a.m., a team snack, which usually consists of fruit and sandwiches, at noon and then the pregame meal at 3:30 (four hours before kickoff)), we simply ate breakfast at 10 a.m. (CT) , cancelled the snack and then still had the pregame meal four hours before kickoff.

The thought process behind this is to try and keep your internal body clock on one schedule, rather than alter everything for a 36-48 hours just to return to West Coast and try to get re-adjusted

We'll talk with a few of the players on Monday to see what, if any, effect the change had on them.

One person that we know the time change, or lack there of really, was our Team Administrator Shant Kasparian who spent the hours before our departure to Dallas on the phone with the hotel, asking them to change the clocks in all of the players' rooms to Pacific Time. He also had to remind the guys not to change their watches upon arrival and to make sure that their cell phones also remained on Pacific Time.

Adding to it all, Nev was not even with us on this first trip as he was back in England completing his Visa paperwork. He returns this week and will have to get the players impressions upon his arrival... or by reading it right here.

UPDATE - We didn't have a chance to talk to too many of the guys today but Steve Cronin did stop by the Blog Office and let us know what he thought of our attempts at altering time...

"It was odd, especially at the start. The thing that helped the most was that they changed the clocks in our rooms because otherwise guys would have been looking at their watches all the time and trying to figure things out. But overall though, I can see the point of it and over the course of the season I think that it will be a positive thing. As of right now a lot of guys are just thinking 'what are we doing' and 'why can't we just do it the way we always have' but the job of Chris Neville is to find the little things that will give us a competitive advantage and who knows, maybe this will be it."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting thing to do with the non-time-addapting. I'll always try that on transatlantic flights, but it's a lot harder since the difference is 3-4 times as much.


Any chance Chris could ask at his former club Portsmouth if Sol Campbell wants to join us... ;-)

Keep up the news from the team/backroom staff and the likes.

Ben

charlesj27 said...

Wow, that is interesting. I'm curious to find out if that really does help the players with coping with the time-differences during travel. It sounds like a "nifty" idea - but, can the body really be "tricked" into not feeling the effects of time difference?

Please, LA Galaxy team - please train and practice diligently. Especially, SHOTS-ON-GOAL... this is very much needed. You guys are improving (most definitely) with trying to keep posession of the ball with each game played. GOOD! Keep working on the accurate and crisp passing and crossing. Keep trying to establish a full 90 - 100 minute endurance. This is, also, critical going forward. Believe me guys, I can see the improvements. But, do not lose your intensity and concentration... There are other MLS teams that win - not because they're tactically better... but, because they keep intimidating and cornering the key players of their opponents. You guys MUST play solid and cohesive as a team... it's the team-edge that is going to make LA Galaxy WIN this season. Stay healthy - and, keep your wits and sharpness about you!

Go GALAXY!!!

charlesj27 said...

LA Galaxy should continue to train and prepare as a team... unifying and solidifying its passing, crossing, "SHOT-ON-GOALS".

On March 29th, our LA Galaxy will be playing Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Stadium in Denver, CO. This stadium is at elevation... The climate and air density is different than that of LA. Endurance, proper hydration, and stretching will be most necessary. Next, please understand that this is not the same Rapids team as 2007. Colorado Rapids have brought in new talent. Their strength, now,, is their Midfield and their defense. Listed below are the new players that Colorado has brought in:
Colorado Rapids:
Incoming:
Jose Burciaga Jr. - Kansas City Wizards (trade)
Ciaran O’Brien - via SuperDraft
Adrian Chevannes - via SuperDraft
Brian Grazier - via SuperDraft
Scott Campbell - via SuperDraft
Chase Hilgenbrinck - free transfer from Ñublense (Chile)
Kevin Forrest - via Supplemental Draft
Cesar Zambrano - via Supplemental Draft
Mike Graczyk - via Supplemental Draft
Daniel Antunez - via Supplemental Draft
Christian Gomez - DC United (trade)
Tim Ward - Columbus Crew (trade)
Rafael Gomes - via transfer Santa Clara (Portugal)

Our LA Galaxy has a tough, trying, and competitive MLS 2008 season ahead of them. Play SMART! Be prepared! Avoid Injuries!