Dhaka, February 12: The men’s national team conditioning camp ended on February 12 with huge success and players feeling positive and inspired.

Besides warming up the players after the off season, the camp was also able to acquire scientific physical and physiological data of each participant in different activities.

Technical Director of the Bangladesh Football Federation, Paul Smalley, said it was a huge success and mentioned that the players had a professional approach to the conditioning camp programme. “What was evident was that the players adapted well and made progressive development during the camp.”

Smalley also said that the players will be going into the upcoming season knowing their present physiological situation and will be able to care for their physique better with the tools provided to them at the 12-day camp.

The players were tested on a range of indicators that included distance covered over time, time to cover certain distances, period of recovery between certain activities, flexibility, agility, consistency of technique, recovery from one day to the next, speed, change of speed, speed of reaction, acceleration, even water retention and hydration.

Midfielder Fazle Rabbi said he found it difficult in the first few days. “But I got used to it. I felt I improved physically during the camp.”

Rabbi said he learnt strategies to help with recovery and preparation for sessions. “I found myself adopting new things throughout the camp.”

It was for the first time that the football federation set out to collect this information that would eventually play a role in making better informed decisions while picking the national squad.

Goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico said this was the first time that he had trained like this. “With so many sessions specifically designed on fitness and conditioning, I really enjoyed the goalkeeping sessions.”

Paul Smalley said the football authorities now has a baseline reference for each player and their potential for progressive development. “We have a range of analytical indicators to compare and contrast performances.”

With the information available, the federation will be able to compare Bangladeshi players with those of other Asian countries as well.

The camp focused on eight key areas — injury prevention, recovery, game related practices, technical, tactical, strength & conditioning format, physical testing and core stability and flexibility — where players were given the tools to grow both in skills and strength.

As regards to who performed the best, Paul Smalley said, “That is confidential information about a player. We can’t give it out.”

As regards to the names that have been circulating in the media about who was the best performer, Smalley said it was not possible for an individual to know who performed the best. “It is simply not possible to say without collating the hundreds of different data points and calculating the aggregate.”

Paul Smalley explained that the players typically lose their fitness during the off season and therefore need to get warmed up for the season ahead. “Otherwise, they end up being sore with soft tissue damage.”

He said that ideally there would be another camp at the close of season so that players know their condition at that point and can come back in a better shape. Citing examples from other countries, the Technical Director said, “Players do not stop training when the season ends there. They keep on their routine and come back with much better match fitness.”