IF nothing else, Hearts' players will stride on to the field to face Motherwell on August 9 in pristine physical condition. Tom Ritchie, the club's fitness coach, won't have it any other way.
Recent pre-season campaigns have resulted in a jaded Tynecastle side beginning the season, generally the upshot of Eduard Malofeev's licence-to-kill training methods.
This year, Ritchie is determined that the squad will prepare appropriately and
professionally.
The lack of a managerial figurehead at Riccarton has left Ritchie conducting operations by himself since the players reconvened at the end of last month.
Angel Chervenkov, the Bulgarian, has returned to assist with coaching duties but conditioning work remains Ritchie's remit.
A former sprinter who represented Scotland on the track at schoolboy, junior and senior level, he recognises the necessity for endurance in professional sportsmen, something Hearts as a team have lacked during recent league campaigns.
"Perhaps it could have been in the past that footballers left at the end of the season and came back for the start of pre-season without doing very much in between. These days, players leave with a close-season training programme which has been specifically designed so that they come back in good condition," explained Ritchie.
"We do a series of tests once they are back and the indicators are that our players have come back in good condition.
"If we continue our pre-season programme as we have been doing, there is no doubt in my mind we'll be extremely fit for the start of the season. The intention is to be as fit possible. Everyone has their own opinion, and mine is that our programme should be structured around high-intensity aerobic training. We have done that this year and indicators are very positive at the moment. We will be very fit come the opening game." Ritchie appears to be enjoying his brief flirtation with the limelight but, like every Hearts employee, is awaiting a managerial appointment to provide genuine leadership.
"I'm not in charge and I'm not in a high-ranking position. I'm the fitness coach," he continued. "We're short staffed at the moment. The only aspect of my job which has changed is that I address the players more often than I would normally. I talk to the boys first thing in the morning, last thing after they finish and at several points in between. "You can tell if the players are stimulated, switched on or whether they're enjoying the training. If you had to ask players, I don't think you would be that good at your job. Having said that, you pick up on players talking to each other when everyone is walking off the training field.
"My evaluation so far is that the training has been very hard and enjoyable."
Conditioning professional athletes is no longer a straightforward process. The days when pre-season training involved beating the sand dunes of Gullane and such places are long since consigned to history.
Ritchie detailed the intense planning and preparation which has gone into Hearts' pre-season schedule, and how advanced modern technology is utilised to aid his knowledge and that of others.
"The pre-season training programme was designed before the end of last season so, from that point of view, I haven't needed any advice," he said.
"I was a teacher in further education for 21 years (he lectured in construction crafts at Adam Smith College in Fife] so I'm quite familiar with dealing with the players and group dynamics, stimulation and discipline.
"There are specific training zones, the top one being called sub-max.
"That means you are training at between 90 and 95 per cent of your maximum heart rate.
"We will set the players specific times in which they must exercise in that zone during that training session. If they do that, their cardiovascular system improves, allowing you to play at your maximum for 90 minutes. Also, if you are in a game which goes into extra-time, it can take you even further."
Double training sessions and only occasional days off confirm Ritchie's intent to have the players bristling for the SPL kick-off.
"I keep out the dressing room. My job is to conduct fitness training on the pitch," he said.
"The atmosphere and the spirit out there is fantastic. I walk past the dressing-room and hear the music blaring and I can tell that the endorphins have kicked in and the guys are in high spirits."
It's a far cry from the groans which emanated when Malofeev ambled around the corridors of Riccarton. Subsequently, starting the season with a purpose seems within Hearts' capabilities this year.
The full article contains 789 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
