Strength and Conditioning trainer Alexander Argolo has installed both mental and physical strength in our small-sided codes national teams during a brief visit in the country this week.
The Brazilian born, based in Australia has had been working with Kurukuru over the last seven months in preparation for the OFC Futsal Nations Cup in October.
Besides his commitment with the national futsal team, Argolo also had time to strengthen the national beach soccer team ahead of their World Beach Games also set to be held in October.
“The session today is the kind of mixing of the sessions that we have been doing with the Kurukuru for the last seven months,” he said.
“So I am trying to organize the structure to the beach soccer guys to understand the simple movement and especially because the beach soccer guys gonna play without the shoes so we need to do a lot of work with the foot, lot of work on the muscles, flexibility quite important, muscle activation and everything that relating to the game that we have like battles.
“The Kurukurus now are quite good in terms of the movement but I am trying to combine the exercise that can benefit both teams at the same time.”
Argolo revealed that he has a big plan for Kurukuru based on what the team needs to be competitive on the world stage.
“We have a big plan for the Kurukurus, we been worked with different types of exercise for the last seven months and every time we have a new conception.
“For example, the first one is just movement, we improved the movement, we worked with injuries, and we worked with prevention. The second one is more about strength. The third one is how to move fast in all directions and this program now is gonna be the last one is a combination of strength, thinking and also changing direction and speed.
“Now the boys from the beach soccer are starting to understand that’s the thing we need to do to improve our game because game is not just kicking the ball, just tactics or organization on the field it’s about also the physical part and also the way we move, when you kick the ball you need a lot of types of movement on the body, when somebody taps on you, you need to support your body with the right position,” the Brazilian stressed.
The Kurukurus are undisputed kings of futsal in Oceania but according to Argolo, there is a lot of work to do to compete with the rest of the world’s best indoor sides.
“Well my point of view about the Kurukurus, I saw a lot of games of the Kurukurus of 2012, even in 2008 and 2016 and the way I saw the players played it’s skillful there is no doubt about the skills that you guys have here but what I saw on the last games is every time that someone receives a tackle the players can’t support and now I think we are more strong and ready for the game,” the optimistic trainer added.
Meanwhile, Argolo leaves the country today back to Australia where the national futsal team will camp before leaving for the OFC Futsal Nations Cup in New Caledonia.
Kurukuru coach Vinicius Laite will announce the final traveling team in the coming days.
