Gippsland Power Media Release
By Bryan Mitchell
Gippsland Power would like to welcome Ashley Green to the club in his role as an assistant coach in 2007. Ashley started his football career with Warragul through its junior program and was recruited by Essendon in 1989 where he played under 19's and reserves. He then went to the Brisbane Bears in 1992 where he played 25 senior games. From Brisbane he then moved to West Adelaide in 1994 where he played for 4 seasons in the SANFL. In 1997 he returned to Gippsland and was assistant coach. He then coached Pakenham and won a senior flag in 2000. He came "home" to Warragul in 2001 and coached them in the West Gippsland Latrobe Football League for 5 years.
Ashley brings a broad range of experiences at an elite level to the club. He has been coached by Kevin Sheedy, Ray Jordan, Robert Walls, Michael Taylor and fully understands what it's like to be a young player beginning a career at the highest level. Importantly, Ashley has a thorough understanding of the Gippsland region and its football culture and will be highly qualified to support the boys as they work to take the big step into the TAC Cup competition and from there, on to a wide range of top quality senior football competitions,
The 2007 TAC Cup Season preparations began for the Gippsland Power club with an information session in Morwell/ The 80 boys and the under 16 development squad and the 120 in the under 18 program were welcomed by Regional Manager Peter Francis who introduced the boys and their parents to the key club officials. Unfortunately he was unable to introduce the under 18 coach as the selection process to replace Paul Hudson hadn't been completed.
Under 16 squad coach Rob Reid spoke this group and outlined the basic commitments required by boys undertaking this program Club fitness guru Les Ponton outlined the two specific pre-season programs tailored for the under 16 and 18 squads. Obviously the challenges that his program entails require the boys to greatly expand their comfort zones but there are no short cuts in football at this level.
The boys will commence training on November 15th at a range of local training bases throughout the Gippsland Power's region. The club has Paul Clavarino supervising training in Yarram, Steve Martin in Bairnsdale, Richard Coulthard in Sale, Les Ponton in Morwell, Joe Lenders in the Warragul area and Chris Dallinger in Wonthaggi.
They will work together on Monday and Wednesday nights and they will focus on skills and fitness in these sessions. They will work on strength, cross training and recovery for four more sessions per week and these will be done individually or in small groups in their local community. This training pattern will operate up until Christmas and then players will regroup in late January where the whole group will then train n Morwell up until the start of the 2007 TAC Cup season. There will be a series of cuts made in the squad in the pre-season so the pressure is on to commit to the mental sand physical demands of the program.
The boys and their family were also addressed by Greg Ryan from Vic Roads. He spoke about the need for proper driver education for young people and stressed the message of the L12O program. Vic Roads works closely with the TAC on all aspects of road safety and it was fitting that the boys were made aware of the importance of thorough preparation in this vital area of their lives.
Last Modified on 26/05/2008 12:30
