One of the keys to Perth Glory’s success this season won’t be from a big name on-field signing but an off field move to bolster the club’s medical and fitness department.
One of the keys to Perth Glory-s success this season won-t be from a big name on-field signing but an off field move to bolster the club-s medical and fitness department.
For the first time in club history the Glory have a full time Physiotherapist and Strength and Conditioning Coach who are working hand in hand to ensure the players are at peak fitness for a vital campaign.
Experienced football fitness man Peter Cklamovski has already made his presence felt during the club-s gruelling pre-season programme which has included several new elements including kickboxing.
Cklamovski has worked with Australian national sides and comes to Perth from Greek club Panahaiki. He said he has been impressed with the level of fitness the players have already achieved and is happy that the squad is tackling everything he is throwing at them with both feet.
“We-ve done a lot of testing and there is science behind everything we-re doing from a fitness and conditioning perspective,” he said.
“There is not one area in particular that the squad is specifically lacking, each of the boys has individual areas that they can improve in and that forms part of their overall fitness schedules that we-ve put together.
“Overall the objective for the players is to be fitter, faster and sharper, we-re very confident that is what we-ll achieve this season.”
Australian teams have a lengthy pre-season compared to European standards and the Glory, who will be heading into week 10 of their programme leading into the match against Wolverhampton, have carefully set-out each component to ensure they-re peaking for the start of the season.
“We still have some work to do but we’ve had a really good start to pre-season,” Cklamovski said.
“We-ve moved into game mode now and that is going to be very important for us to get 90 minutes in week in and week out before round one.
“The boys felt pretty good in the match against Adelaide and pulled up well, that’s a reward for all the hard work they’ve been putting in,” Cklamovski said.
While the players have shown quick feet on the pitch they-ve still got some way to go before translating that into the kickboxing ring.
“They certainly try their best but I’m not sure their careers are going to be in boxing or kickboxing,” Cklamovski joked.
“The sessions challenge them physically and mentally in different ways and they have fun and so that’s the whole point behind it and I think it will pay dividends for us.
