Em's Blog: Preseason Training With The Captain

Added 3 December 2008

Hawthorn Magic star Emily Matheson has been named BigV womens squad captain for the 2009 season. Matheson, now a veteran of the Magic womens program had a consistent season in 2008, averaging 8.7 points per game and was nominated for one of the guard positions in the Division One All Star Five. Throughout the 2009, Em will be blogging on Hawthorn Basketball Online, keeping fans up to date on the inner sanctum of the womens squad. Look out for Em and the Magic women on the court at BSC during the 2009 season.

Emily Matheson

Hi Everyone!

I am very happy, actually, quite honoured to captain such a promising young up and coming squad! I hope with the array of young blood we can win some more games next season!

Training has been really good so far. Monday nights have been "fitness sessions" on the oval at Xavier College. The programs have been designed by Nato (Youth League Women Coach Nathan Arousi). The fitness sessions vary from time to time but have been gradually increasing in intensity. To give you an idea, last training on Monday we began with strength conditioning where we had to do 20 seconds of push-ups with a 10 second break and then back to push ups. These continue for 4 or 5 times in a row which results in an intense two minute period. The same is then for "bridge" which is an abdominal holding exercise before crazy lunges. They are dreadful!!!

Following that, it is straight into sprinting. We line up and do repeated sprints over 5, 10, 20 and 28.5 m distances. We do 10 sprints for each distance.

Next up is another cardio/strength conditioning exercise. We have to run a lap of the oval then at the start line, do 30 push ups, 30 sits ups and 30 squats. Then run another lap then do 20 push ups, 20 sit ups and 20 squats. Then run another lap and finish by doing 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, 10 squats. This exercise brought out the "team" element of Hawthorn. One player was exhausted and a few ran back to help her finish the lap, then the whole team proceeded to help her get through the push ups etc by doing them again with her. It was so good to be apart of that!

We did more running-fartlek training, where we run in two teams at opposite ends going clockwise. We all run around the cones in a circle formation and when the whistle goes, the last players sprints around everyone running and gets to the front. We did this until everyone had sprinted at least twice! To finish off, we did a team sprint / pitter-patter team exercise (which was fun), plyometric training which involved us doing a myriad of jumps and leaps and bounds and then we are finished!

Wednesday nights are on court at Xavier. We have been working on our new offense that seems to be suited to basically everyone as it provides more opportunities for scoring on aggressive and passive plays! We have been scrimmaging a lot more which is great, as we can learn about how everyone plays through practice. Just last Wednesday night, Mike introduced some defensive structure. However we have still much to learn.

Also, we have had a fitness testing session already, another one to come before the Christmas break. We will all be tested again after Christmas and we have to be at the same level when we are tested in January to be able to play! The fitness tests involve 3 sprint and agility tests as well as the dreaded beep test! It really is worth it because we are really getting quite fit and are building up a strong cardio base.

So, with all this info, I hope you get the idea of what a typical training is like!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope to see you at BSC supporting the Magic next year!

Em # 9

Hawthorn Magic BigV Preseason 2009
2009 Hawthorn Magic Senior Program Information
Magic Players Nominated for BigV Awards
Em's Blog: Maybe There Is Something In The Water
Magic Profiles: Meet Our BigV Magic Players
2008 BigV Season Photos in the Gallery