Since returning from the Christmas break, the Gold Coast SUNS playing list have been put through a gruelling series of pre-season training sessions in demanding weather conditions.
This included Tuesday's 2km time trial, which resulted in all participants recording personal best performances to validate the hard work put in over the summer months.
To give the players some respite, a planned "down week" was scheduled by the club's high performance staff culminating in a three-day training camp which commenced on Thursday.
The camp, which is being held locally, includes a variety of activities with a heavy focus on player development and leadership.
Coach Rodney Eade said the week was an important part of pre-season preparations.
“The players have been really fatigued in their training sessions. Obviously we’ve had to back off at certain stages, which is why we’re having a ‘down week’, which was always planned,” he said.
“(The heat and humidity) does take a lot out of you. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we’ll have a camp, or a pseudo-camp. The players will go home at night but the Gold Coast has got such great resources we’re going to use those.
“We’ll have some leadership talks and meetings, probably develop what we want to stand for as a footy team and also some game planning. We’ll fine-tune and hone our game plan as well as get a bit of fitness work in.”
The team was put through a weights and gym session at Casuarina Rock Fitness Centre on Thursday morning, followed by surfing and stand-up paddleboarding lessons at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales.
A glimpse of what the boys had to endure at Casuarina Rock Fitness Centre earlier today. #gcsuns https://t.co/uvYO6AyC2c
— GC SUNS (@GoldCoastSUNS) January 29, 2015Eade explained to goldcoastfc.com.au that breaking free of their standard routine was an emphasis of the team camp.
“The main focus (of the camp) is to do something different, get away from footy a bit, have our meetings while we can and at the same time do a bit of fitness work and when we return next Monday, we’ll crank the footy work back up again.”
The SUNS will head to Bond University on Friday for a recovery session, before undergoing a team-building orienteering and confidence course held at the Canungra.
