Alessio is a personal trainer and strength coach graduated from The University of Edinburgh’s MSc Strength and conditioning course. Alessio has relevant working experiences as athletic trainer at Orlandina basketball (top Italian basketball league) and Telimar Palermo (to italian water polo league). We wanted to ask him a few questions about his latest experience to understand training aspects that characterize water polo.
- Hi Alessio, it is a pleasure to talk about athletic training in water polo with you. Could you briefly illustrate to us the water polo championships organization in Italy?
The structure of the official championships organized by the swimming federation include a top league, namely the A1. As in many other Italian sports then we find additional leagues such as the A2 series, the B, the C and finally the Promotion league. For each league, at the end of the season, the playoff formula is used to decide the winner among the qualifiers, while the playout formula determines which teams are relegated to the lower league. In addition to these main adult leauges, there are also the youth leagues for different age groups.
In the top league, there are 14 teams and the first 4 classified have access to a European cup that takes place in tournament mode, similarly to what is called “Champions League” in football.
- What is the education pathway for a S&C coach who wants to work in water polo in Italy?
The Italian swimming federation organizes courses with the issue of a specific certificate which is necessary to work as S&C coach for water polo. Alternatively, it is possible to collaborate as an external consultant dealing exclusively with the part carried out in the gym, as in my case. Regardless of this, I personally believe that it is essential to acquire an academic education and qualification in sport science or a related area.
- How long do the off-season, pre-season and in-season last in water polo? How often do athletes train during these different periods?
Considering that the last two seasons have been affected by the pandemic, I am referring to the periods of the last full season, namely 2018-19, in which the team earned promotion to the top league.
The off-season starts in late May/early June and last until mid-August. During this period most of the players have extra work commitments and the talented young athletes participates to training camp with their national teams. For this reason, we don’t give any specific S&C programme, expect to aerobic swim sessions to maintained basic fitness.
The pre-season generally extends from mid-August until mid-October and includes two daily workouts from Monday to Friday (swimming conditioning + gym/technical training), and a single swimming session on Saturday, with Sunday off. In this period the water work is usually done in the morning, while the technical and gym sessions in the afternoon/evening.
The in-season, on the other hand, extends from late October to late May. Normally during this period, we have three gym sessions per week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) when we play Saturday only or just one gym session per week (Mondays), when we have the midweek game too.
- How is your club athletic/medical staff structured?
In our team, I am the only S&C coach who takes care of the gym sessions, but the coaches have a background that allows them to also carry out and structure athletic sessions, in particular with regard to aerobic and anaerobic conditioning in water.
We do not have doctors and physiotherapists within the team staff, but the club has agreements with medical centres specialized in the rehabilitation of athletes in case of injuries during the season.
- Could you briefly list what you think are the main physical qualities to succeed in water polo?
Water polo is a complex sport that involves muscles of the whole body and therefore requires a complete training. However, if I had to make a list in order of importance I would say that the anaerobic (lactic) fitness and the strength/explosiveness of the upper limbs play a key role in this sport.
- What facilities and equipment can you use for your S&C sessions? How much time do you have available for your sessions in the gym?
Our gym has barbells with weights, medicine balls, rubber bands, plyo boxes, obstacles and landmines. I usually have a lot of time available to work with athletes in the gym, and my sessions last about 1.15 h.
- How do you structure your S&C sessions during a typical week of in-season training?
Regardless of the period of the season, I generally include a long warm-up in the gym that includes mobility and core stability. Each session is full-body and includes push and pull patterns with different working angle or accessory.
During the championship, in principle, there are always three sessions per week (although they may decrease according to the match schedule or coach specific needs). Monday is the first day of training after the game (played on Saturday) and I implement a long warm-up before introducing a work focused on low impact plyometric exercises (using small obstacles, boxes and medicine balls) and strength exercises with barbell (i.e. deadlift, bench press and chest pulls) using loads that do not exceed 70% athletes’ 1RM. On the second gym session, I deliver training in a similar way, but I increase the intensity of lifts up to 90% athletes’ 1RM. On the last pre-match gym session, I usually reduce the volume of exercises and only ask to perform short series (2-3 reps) of exercises such as bench press or deadlift but with high loads (this was specifically requested by a coach).
- Is there any specific exercise that you think is particularly important for the development of strength and power in water polo?
For what concerns the work in the gym I believe that compound exercises are crucial to create the basis for strength development; and I also think that exercise such as medicine balls throws are important because beyond their specificity, they improve the strength and control of the trunk during multi-articulated movements.
Last but not least, I believe it is relevant to include exercise with movements on the transverse plane always with the aid of medicine balls but also of landmines and rubber bands to promote a better transfer of forces during movements in the water.
- What are the main difficulties when planning and conducting S&C sessions with your water polo team?
Personally, I believe that the main difficulty is in adapting the workloads in the gym to those carried out in the water which are difficult to quantify. However, a further difficulty that I perceived was that of having to continually readjust the work program to cope with unexpected travel and friendly games.