In early January, Urartu FC returned from vacation and now is preparing for the resumption of the championship in full force. The players of the team have already held the first friendly fixture during the preparation period, facing BKMA (1-1). The fitness coach of Urartu FC Javier Lurueña Lobo, in an interview with Urartu media, spoke about the training process, work with players and other things.

 

ABOUT THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF THE TEAM

“After the holidays, players are usually not in their best shape. We had a month allotted for rest, but the players actually rested only half of this period, for two weeks they had to work at home, do general exercises. Now we continue to work on improving their physical condition so that it is back at a high level as soon as possible, especially before the first official match of the year that we will play against Van FC."

 

ABOUT LOW PERCENTAGE OF INJURIES AND WORKING WITH A TEAM

“The truth is that we are lucky, because injuries are both work and luck. All the injuries that were in our team this season were received during matches, for example, as happened with Miranyan in the match with Ararat FC. Right now we are working with a focus on strength trainings because it helps players a lot to improve their playability in their positions. We will continue to work in the same way throughout whole preparation period. I hope this luck in terms of injuries will stay with us and we will not have them for the rest of the season.

I feel very good here, Urartu FC has all the amenities, especially for my work: it's not only about the pitches, but we also have a gym, recovery rooms, good working staff - so we can achieve more. In other clubs, if you don't have it all, you have to adapt, do less work, because there are no conditions. But it’s really much easier to work with Urartu FC.”

ABOUT CAMP

“All decisions about the training camp are made by team's head coach Robert Arzumanyan, but all the staff help him in making the right decision for the team. Camp is not an easy thing: you wake up, have breakfast, train, have lunch, sleep a little, train again, go to bed in the evening, and start all over again in the morning. One camp is enough, because it's really not easy, to be away from families, to be out of everyday life for a long time. We decided to divide the preparation process into two periods: an initial period aimed at getting the players ready for more difficult work and for friendlies, and then, when we go to foreign training camp, we will be more ready for the rest of the friendly fixtures, and we will continue to improve our conditioins during trainings. We will also have a last week during which we will train hard to come to the first official match in the best possible condition.”

 

ABOUT WORKING WITH ROBERT ARZUMANYAN AND THE COACHING STAFF

“This is my first experience of working with Robert Arzumanyan, I have worked with other coaches before. I feel comfortable here: when you realize that your opinion is listened to and understood, or when the head coach expresses a different opinion from yours and you start discussing what is best for the players, because this is all our common goal. Robert Arzumanyan is a good specialist in his field of activity, my work is different, everyone in the coaching staff has different knowledge, and the bottom line is that in order for everything to work, we need the right approach to combining our skills. We have a great staff and for me it's a very good experience."