Pre Olympic schedules, holding out key player, etc

[gobears]

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/29/SPOJ120F2N.DTL&hw=Foolish+Move&sn=001&sc=1000

SF Chron article recently about 'foolish' scheduling for NT close to Olympics, holding out of key players to avoid injury by some teams, etc.
This is women's soccer, but the issue is relevant for all the Olmpic squads.

What is needed to come to the Games rested? and healthy?
in terms of # of games/matches in the run up....
and vs whom? and holding players out to avoid injury or to
allow for recovery of ordinary dings, etc.

What is needed to come to the Games with skills 'sharp'?
After a week of layoff, skills start being not as 'ready'? longer?
shorter time?

Anyone know if the vball squads get 1 hour or 2 hour daily practices in the actual venue before the Games begin? or??

[OverAndUnder]

Assuming you've already been practicing for a couple months, at this level you should be able to take a 2-3 week break (not immediately before the event, but a couple weeks out) from playing and still return to top form in 7-10 days with consistent training in the interim. The mental sharpness may take a week to come back, but again, to a large extent if you are on the national team a set is a set is a set. You're supposed to be good enough that 50-100 more reps at a skill in practice isn't going to make that much difference in your level of play -- but 50-100 more reps in practice can make a big difference in how worn down your body is and how resilient you are during the tournament. For big tournaments I sometimes like to substitute a week of cardio and strength training instead of game practice, about two weeks beforehand, especially if it's during vacation season and you can get everyone there a few days early. The best way to prepare yourself to succeed in a particular facility, time zone, altitude, geographic location, and so on, is to TRAIN THERE. In my opinion, having four hours of high-intensity practice in the comfort of your own gym two days before your tournament in another state isn't as helpful as many people seem to think.

But there are plenty of people here who are far more experienced than I am.

[Phaedrus]

The first thing that goes is serving and passing, so I am sure they serve and pass everyday, just to touch a ball but they may save their legs. The Tour de France guys will ride at an easy pace for 3 or 4 hours on off days, they get two off days for the 21 stages, just to keep the leg muscles moving, so I am sure they do something similar to keep the fast twitch muscles firing even though they won't jump as much.

[mikegarrison]

Most of the TDF riders actually dislike the off days, but they are mandated by UCI rules for stage races. When they talk to the riders about them, however, most say they would prefer to be racing. Once the body has adjusted to that routine, it is more disruptive to not race than to race.

I would think a similar thing applies here, but I don't really know.

[baywatcher]

Got to hope the gold and silver winning USA head coach for women understands how to pace the team. Assuming USA gets to the medal round the women are going to have a very tough opponent, regardless of where USA ends up. USA has to point towards those last 5-6 days if USA wants to medal.

[Phaedrus]

Aug 2, 2008 18:46:17 GMT -5 baywatcher said:

Got to hope the gold and silver winning USA head coach for women understands how to pace the team. Assuming USA gets to the medal round the women are going to have a very tough opponent, regardless of where USA ends up. USA has to point towards those last 5-6 days if USA wants to medal.

This is why a lot of people are pessimistic about the USA women's medalling. The first pool is not easy and chances are that they will probably make it beyond the first pool but it may take everything out of the starters and then the team could well do a flameout in the medal round.