Almeria B hosting online workouts for academy players during coronavirus quarantine
The UD Almeria Academy continue to work waiting to receive a decision from the Federation on competitions
Almería’s Academy have not stopped working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are waiting to receive a decision from the Spanish Football Federation on whether or not competitions can resume as usual. The UD Almeria Academy Director, Mario Silva, highlighted ‘At this time, it is still difficult to provide a forecast.’
Having said that, nobody is missing out on training sessions during lockdown. The Portuguese, Mario Silva, explained that the Almeria B players ‘have been given individual home training schedules monitored by their coaching staff.’ At the same time, the Academy coordinator, Agustín Sánchez, stated ‘Fitness coaches have given players individual training plans to be completed weekly. Once a week, I am in charge of reaching out to all the club players to make sure if they and their families are well. I am also planning for next season.’
The UD Almería B team head coach, Fernando Santos, is keeping in touch with the footballers during those training sessions. The coach born in Porto stressed ‘I know how they are doing. I am also talking to their fitness coach to find out how the training sessions are going’. Afterwards, he announced online training sessions ‘this week we have hosted online workouts so that we are all participating at once. We are also keeping track of their daily routine and looking at what they are doing. In this way, we are able to collect all the health and fitness data we need.’
Mario Silva has also specified that the rest of the teams, from U19 Almeria to U12 Almeria, are training at home. They are taking advantage of water jugs and other household items used as gym equipment. Agustín Sánchez detailed: ‘They are doing some specific training exercises conducted by the fitness coach of the rest of the Academy teams. Every week players are provided with the necessary help on a day-to-day basis.’
The UD Almeria Academy Director has not yet received any official statement on what will happen to the championships. However, its managers believe that the ideal would be, as long as there is no risk to health, to end the season. There are teams who are likely to gain promotion. In this sense, Agustín argued that the fairest thing to do would be to play again in June or July, despite the fact that the conditions of the 2019/20 campaign should be modified.
Fernando Santos, 'Nandinho', is of the opinion that in the case of not being able to continue playing matches, the Spanish Football Federation should take into account the results from the first round. Nevertheless, the Portuguese made it clear ‘I would like to finish the championship.’