Genoa – Twenty years is a great achievement. A story, that of Alessandro Pilati in Genoa, “rich and full of satisfactions” during which, as an athletic trainer, he had the opportunity to work with many champions.
Pilati, for an athletic trainer, twenty years in the same club is a long time.
«Yes, it is unusual but fortunately it happened. It’s a beautiful story that I’m experiencing this with the Griffon, something that makes me proud and gives me great satisfaction».
Is there any episode, or a footballer in particular, that you remember in these twenty years?
«I don’t like naming names but in Genoa he had the opportunity to work with many champions. The best moments are those in which results are obtained, which can be promotions and this year’s was particularly beautiful: we lived it in a new context with many young people at the stadium. A special relationship has been created between the team, the club and the fans. Then there are the years with Gasperini in which we achieved very important results».
Coming to the team, the first week of work in Pegli has ended and today the training camp begins. In these first few days we have also seen football players training with masks. What kind of work have you done?
«Masks create a certain impact but metabolimeters, this is their name, are increasingly used. They are tools that allow us to measure the maximum oxygen volume of the athletes and evaluate their state at the beginning of the preparation. In this way we have a photograph of the athletes and on the basis of this we build an adequate programming. In these first 7 days other tests were done in the gym, on strength, to evaluate all the characteristics of the athletes. I don’t want to pass for the scientist on duty, normal things are done here with sense and logic».
More and more often footballers publish on social media images in which they train on vacation. Compared to a few years ago, do players come to rallies more prepared?
«To us trainers, social media has in a certain sense given a hand: there are many players who show their training sessions and this can be a stimulus for the athletes themselves. At the end of the season, we sent out a 15-day program that would put the players in a position to face this first week without major trauma. And I must say that this was done in an optimal way: I found them really good. Clearly they are not in top condition but they are ready to go without the risk of having muscle and tendon pain, things that slow down preparation».
How important is data collection to plan targeted preparations?
«We have management software and technological instruments, such as GPS detectors, which evaluate the loads performed by each player. Then I have the good fortune to work with two collaborators, Filippo Gatto and Gaspare Picone, who give me a great hand in collecting data and managing weekly loads. We have goals that must be achieved on a weekly basis and they inform me of the gaps of some athletes or the excesses of others. This information allows us to carry out a programming that has a linearity over time».
It is said that the summer retreat serves to “put fuel in the legs” for the rest of the season. Can you technically translate what is meant by this expression?
«I have never believed this statement, only partially true. To put fuel in their legs some people intend to increase the volume of work but this does not mean that the work done in the training camp alone will determine the success of the season. During the retreat we train to create a base on which we can then work by increasing the intensity, for example. To manage the season in the best way, you have to work throughout the year».
The retreat that begins today in Val di Fassa will last 15 days: will the training sessions change from one week to the next?
“Absolutely yes. We will begin to carry out double sessions. We will continue to work on general resistance but already with some elements of specific resistance, a type of effort that is close to that of the race».
Are there any differences between last year’s preparation for the B championship and this year’s?
«The approach is similar, it is the cylinder capacity of the players that changes. In Serie A, in addition to technical skills, athletic ability also improves. The means and methods can vary a bit, what changes is the players’ response».
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