Livi-ng in a Winter Wonderland

With Scotland well into its second week of arctic conditions, Scottish Football League clubs have had to be imaginative in ways of keeping their players occupied and in tip-top condition. The indoor football centres at Toryglen and Ravenscraig, as well as centres such as Soccerworld that are dotted about the country, have seen professional sides come in to play or at least train. 

However, the Chairman of Livingston, Gordon McDougall, wanted to give the players at his club something a bit different.  The Second Division leaders have ventured into football and non-football territory to ensure that their players have been kept occupied and fit over the past couple of weeks.

Chairman McDougall said: “We have our own artificial surface at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium which was used when things were not too bad. When it got worse, we had access to Soccerworld to play games and a Games Hall at West Lothian College that allowed us to do some Futsal.

“However, you have to be creative to keep the boys occupied at these times especially as they travel from different areas of Scotland and have not been together as a complete group that often.”

The Livingston players have used the gym that is situated in the North Stand of their ground and have also been swimming in Whitburn. They have enjoyed a boxing session however, McDougall was at his creative best when he suggested a dance class and racketball.

Gary Bollan’s players got a tough workout on Wednesday afternoon after McDougall turned thought into action and organised a three hour indoor fitness session that involved the Livi Lions getting put through their paces in a class involving Dancing, Pilates and Yoga.

The classes were taken by local fitness instructor Maria Przybylska from Danz Craze School of Dance with McDougall saying: “We had been looking at ways to keep the boys in good condition and reckon that the fitness class would be a great one for getting their heart rate up.

“We have the facilities at the stadium to host a workout for 20 first team players and that is what they were doing between 1.00 pm and 4.00 pm on Wednesday afternoon whilst the pitch was under three feet of snow.”

Przybylska was thrown in at the deep end a bit as she explained: “Livingston’s Chief Executive Ged Nixon called me on Tuesday and asked if we could put together a three hour programme for the first team squad by the following afternoon.

“I am the Principal Teacher at Danz Craze and I set about organising a Dancerise programme that involved Dance, Pilates and Yoga.

“Dawn Hobson and Sarah Marr both helped me and that was important in a class of 20 as you have to ensure that all of players were working hard.

“Ged had asked us to help lift the mood and energy levels after all the snow and it seemed to work as the windows were steaming up with the heat generated from the exercises.”

Przybylska was asked how well the players had done and she replied: “I knew there would be a lot of banter but to be fair to them, they were really focussed on what they were doing.

“I did not have a voice afterwards but I am sure the boys enjoyed their work out. I have to hope it does some good as it benefits everyone in West Lothian if the football team is successful.

“Doing this has been great publicity for Danz Craze but more importantly it has been a right good workout for the players.”

McDougall said: “It was something different and you could see the effort put in. Danz Craze are going to be setting up classes in the stadium in the New Year and that shows again how Livingston as a club are re-engaging with their local community. I have been delighted with their efforts in helping us with this.”

Livingston fitness session photos: (c) Robert Speirs, Official Photographer, Livingston FC

Dancerise was not the only new activity for the Livi players as late last week, the Glasgow based members of their squad travelled through to the south side of the city to play the new sport of Racketball.

McDougall said: “We also had some of the boys playing a new version of squash as we are looking to keep the boys as sharp as possible.”

The west coast Livi Lions visited Newlands Lawn Tennis club to try out the high aerobic racquet sport which was also used by the Scottish professional rugby teams in their pre-season training prior to the beginning of this season.

Racketball is played on a standard squash court and uses a larger bouncier ball and a racket with a larger head supposedly making the game easier to play.

The Second Division players were following in the footsteps of some tennis greats that have played at Newlands including 1987 Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash, who officially opened the indoor tennis courts in 2007.

World ranked number 4 Andy Murray played at Newlands in a junior tournament a few years ago and there is a football connection with Murray as his grandad, Roy Erskine, played for both Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath as a full back in the 1950s.

Britain’s top rated womens’ player, Elena Baltacha, who recently broke into the top 50 in the women's world rankings, played in the Newlands Ladies team that won the Scottish Cup in 1998 and as her name more than suggests, there is another footballing link there.

Her father and brother, both called Sergei, are well known to fans of the SFL as Sergei senior played for St. Johnstone, as well as internationally for USSR, and was also the Manager of Caledonian Thistle (as they were called then) when they joined The Scottish Football League for the start of the 1994/ 95 season.  Sergei junior was capped three times by Scotland at Under 21 level during a four year long playing career with St. Mirren that ended in January 2003.

Livingston were supported by Scottish Squash and Racketball's Coaches Martin Woods and Stewart Crawford with Crawford saying: “We at SSRL will do what we can to support teams in the same manner as we are doing for Livingston.

There is no need for players to be competent racquet players. Racketball is a very forgiving sport but we can guarantee that they will work up a real sweat.”

Chairman McDougall added: “I had been speaking to John Dunlop at Scottish Squash and Racketball Limited for a few months about racketball and what it can do for the players and this seemed an ideal time to try it out.”

Dunlop reckons that racketball is a sport that clubs should be having on their training agenda consistently saying: “The Livingston players had a ball literally and they also got some great exercise.

“It is an easier form of a racket sport than squash as the ball comes back to you quicker so people playing the sport for the first time can have a lot more fun.”

“Squash courts tend to lie empty during the day so it is something I would suggest that clubs look into as there are over 500 courts in the country.

“Partick Thistle are a goal-kick away from the oldest squash club in Scotland in Maryhill. Falkirk could use courts at the Mariner Centre, the Fife sides could look at courts at Dalgety Bay.

“Dundee University may suit Dundee with Ross County having the option of Inverness Lawn Tennis Club just beside the Eden Court Theatre.

“In the West of Scotland, Newlands would be great as it has ample parking and lots of courts and there is also a very active club in Dumfries.”

Dunlop added: “There are also facilities for racketball at the Aberdeen Sports Village as well as Craiglockhart in Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Sports Centre.

“If any club would like us to help them use racketball as part of their training programme, we would be delighted to help.”

The striking pair of Robbie Winters and Iain Russell took part in both classes and they felt the benefit after a frustrating period.

Winters said: “The exercise class was really interesting and certainly something different. It was a good way of seeing which of your team-mates have good co-ordination and who doesn’t.

“The racketball was excellent and the boys that took part played at a high standard. I have played badminton, tennis and squash in the past and racketball was similar and the guys who worked with us were really helpful.”

Winters also enjoyed the social side of the exercise as he said: “All the Glasgow area boys had been stuck indoors and unable to get to Livingston so getting us together was a great exercise. It was important to get us working again and we did that at Racketball and then took it on when the entire squad got together on Wednesday.”

It was very different to the winters Winters experienced in the six years when he played with Brann Bergen in Norway as he explained: “In Norway, every club has an indoor facility to train in and if it gets really bad, they always have the option of going away to Training Camps.

“The winters were treated more seriously over there decades ago and investment made then.”

Russell was surprised by the dance class saying: “It was harder than I thought it would be but I was happy to be doing something. It certainly kept the boys on their toes and it was good to see everyone again.”

Racketball was also a winner as Russell explained: “That was really enjoyable and whilst we only did it for the day, you certainly felt sharper afterwards.

“The two racketball coaches were excellent and that was another good way of keeping us fit.”

It has certainly been a frustrating time for the former Morton man as he added: “When I couldn’t get through to Livingston, I tried to get into my local gym but of course, it was shut. It is great that the club have put on these things to keep us from getting bored.

“The level of exercise we experienced at the dance class and the racketball was fantastic.”

The racketball matches and dance classes could be set to stay even when the weather starts being kinder to the West Lothian side with Chairman McDougall saying: “I am a great believer that other sports and exercises can give players a core stability that football doesn’t.

“They can also develop greater flexibility by doing these different things so I am hoping that we can keep them going.”

*If you would like more infomation on the dance classes at Livingston please email [email protected]