A SEQUENTIAL GUIDE TO FC VICTORIA'S PROGRAMS
FC Victoria provides athlete development programs on a year round basis for soccer playing youth on Vancouver Island.
With segmented programming throughout the year, young athletes can find development opportunities during their playing season with FC Victoria's Academy or continue their development in the off season with the popular Summer Teams Programs.
In consultation with sports science experts from the National Coaching Institute-Victoria (NCI-Victoria), FC Victoria has prepared a Yearly Training Plan (YTP), a structured outline of the comprehensive programing delivered by the organization.
UNDERSTANDING THE PLAN
FC Victoria's Yearly Training Plan is a road map for the calendar year. The plan focuses on percentages of tactical and technical training as they pertain to the period of the training year.
We have broken out the year in two horizontal rows; months, and weeks (left to right).
Micro
Is the number of training sessions during a week. For example, the Sunday Academy sessions have 1 session per week, while throughout May & June, the Summer Teams Programs have 3 sessions in a week.
Macro
A combination of Micro Cycles that make up a specific phase of training.
RR refers to Recovery / Regeneration
General Preparation Phase (Red) - Sunday Academy Sessions
Are weekly hour long sessions for ten consecutive Sunday evenings. Boys train in the first hour and separate training for girls in the second hour.
When you review the weekly columns (up & down), you will identify that there are percentages of the time devoted to technical development (skill), tactical development (learning the game) that total 100% of playing skills.
Direction of the athletic development is measured in Energy Systems. In the Sunday Academy sessions, 75% of the physical activity is Aerobic while 25% is Anaerobic Alactic.
Strength is focusing on player endurance in these sessions. There is stretching and flexible exercises incorporated in all activity.
A single goal setting session is also included in the Sunday Academy following the training.
Transitional Phase (Gray)
There are no scheduled training sessions or programs operating in the Transitional Phase. This is a time for the athletes and staff to recover and rest.
Specific Preparation Phase (Bright Light Blue) - Summer Teams Program Trials
Tryouts for the Summer Teams Programs are highlighted in light blue on the Yearly Training Plan.
The trials are planned primarily with instruction and development on Technical Skill (80%) while energy resources are mostly Aerobic (80%).
Pre Competitive Phase (Yellow) - Summer Teams Program
There is less emphasis on the number of games and importance of winning. This empowers the FC Victoria athlete to develop through periodized training and test their skills and decision making in a less threatening environment.
The priority is on training and development over competition. For example, the Summer Teams programs incorporates 54 individual soccer sessions (45 training session to 9 games). The ratio is 5:1, as suggested by Dr. Istvan Balyi of the NCI-Victoria. This allows athletes to train and prepare for competition later in their soccer careers.
The inclusion of sport science applications enhances the development of the FC Victoria athlete in a more holistic approach.
Competitive Phase (Dark Blue) - Summer Teams Programs
Competitive games versus other private academy programs and tournament play is included in the player development.
International Academies (Medium Blue)
Opportunities are offered to members of FC Victoria to participate in international environments. Our experience has shown that some of the best international opportunities for development of girls and boys is in England.
Training Weekend (Green) - Summer Teams Programs
There are three training weekends and a fourth training taper scheduled with the Summer Teams Programs. These entail 3-4 training sessions on a weekend in combination with sport specific scientific training in a classroom setting.
These training weekends feature special technical and tactical sessions led by additional staff coaches such as Tracy David, Bruce Wilson, Buzz Parsons (plus others to be announced in the near future).
Residential Weekend (Pink) - Summer Teams Programs
The residential weekend scheduled in the middle of May is very similar to the Training Weekend sessions described above, only with a unique twist. Players are roomed together for two nights and getting immersed in a 'soccer saturation' weekend.
The residential weekend features guest coaches from Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers (England). In addition, the NCI-Victoria staff deliver sport specific scientific training in a classroom setting.
Sport Psychology - Summer Teams Programs
The sport specific scientific training introduced and followed up in the classroom setting by NCI-Victoria staff is also monitored and referred to on the field of play by the FC Victoria coaching team.
