Games Entry Form available from your Club or Zone Secretary.
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ZONE NEWS
TOURNAMENTS
The Hall Club has rescheduled its carnival to the weekend of 16-17 June. Remaining carnivals to be held in Southern Highlands and adjoining zones:
2-3 June - Canberra
9-10 June - NSW Zone Champ's - Glen Valley
16-17 June - Hall
23-24 June - Moss Vale
30-1 July - Harden 14-15 July - Hawkesbury Valley (Jugiong tba)
21-22 July SH Zone Final (at Hall)
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SHPSA Zone Meeting
The Southern Highlands Zone meeting set down for Friday 15th June has been cancelled due to the Hall carnival running that weekend. In its place there will be a meeting of club representatives at 5pm on Saturday 23 June at the Moss Vale carnival to discuss arrangements for the Zone Final.
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NSW Club Championships Postponed
The Maitland Club hopes to reschedule the Club Championships for later in the season. Clubs will be notified once a date has been agreed on.
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NSW Zone Championships Glen Valley 9-10 June
Teams for the above championships were announced at the Braidwood carnival.
Robert Sibley (Capt), Anthony Yeo, Ashley Mathie, Aaron Clarke, Jeffrey Afflick, Luke Clarke
Coach: Jim Davidge
INTERMEDIATE MIXED
Steven Darmody, Luke Codey, Heath Mathie, Jillian Sibley, Belinda Anderson, Alison Mathie (Capt)
Coach: Richard Clarke Reserves: Justin Darmody; Kathryn Hallam
Good luck to all players representing the Southern Highlands Zone.
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Beautiful One Day…..!
The "Good Weather" dial might not have favoured Maitland, however Bungendore and Burradoo, both of which are notorious for their cold and windy carnivals , enjoyed beautiful weather this year with players and spectators alike basking in the warm and calm conditions. Sunscreen and T-shirts were the order of the day, with beanies safely stashed away for later in the season!
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POLOCROSSE ON "AUSTRALIA ALL OVER"
For those who were awake at about 6 am last Sunday morning (27th May) and had their radio tuned to ABC's "Australia All Over" program, would have heard my five minutes of fame speaking with "Macca" (Ian McNamara) about polocrosse.
Now its no mean feat to "have a chat" with Macca, but after years of listening to his program you get a feel for what he might find of interest to put to air. Perhaps it was the scene I painted of the flickering camp fire surrounded by camp ovens, or horses breathy with anticipation awaiting their breakfast, or the novelty of a woman calling on a mobile from the warmth of her swag which swayed him, but whatever it was, to air I was put and I took advantage of talking (via Macca) to the hundreds of thousands of Aussies who listen faithfully to his program every Sunday.
To be fair, Macca has some rudimentary knowledge of polocrosse and as the minutes ticked by I tried to impart my enthusiasm for our wonderful sport. I extended an open invitation to anyone within cooee of the Braidwood Showground to come and see for themselves what we get so excited about.
He wanted to know how many were at the showground - I told him there were about 300 people camping at the grounds made up of some 30 teams (180 players) and 20 or so "subbies". After promoting Braidwood's carnival I then turned to Canberra's carnival the following weekend which, I added, is held virtually in the heart of the National Capital and also managed to get in a few words about Elke, who was playing polocrosse, literally as we spoke, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
All in all I was fairly pleased with the interview, safe in the fact that there were now many more people "out there" who had heard a little about polocrosse.
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NEW ZONE POLICY REGARDING HELMETS
The new Zone policy, which was introduced at the beginning of the season, namely:
(a) That umpires wear a helmet when umpiring, and (b) That any person on horseback at a SH tournament must wear a helmet at all times
appears to be working very well.
By way of background, this proposal was put forward for discussion at a SH Zone Meeting on 30th March with a view to improving the risk management for our zone.
There were representatives present from all clubs where the proposals were unanimously endorsed as zone policy. The Zone Executive would like to express its appreciation to Clubs for the smooth introduction of these policies.
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HOT GOSS' CORNER
Congratulations to Louise and Jason who are expecting their first baby later this year - let's hope the bub takes after Mum in the looks department!
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FOUND
Polocrosse racquet at the Yass Carnival 21-22 April. Contact Cathy Bennett or Michael Gorman on 6227 5529.
W A N T E D
The ROBERTSON PONY CLUB would like to purchase several second hand polocrosse racquets. If you have any spare racquets you would like to dispose of please contact Robert Roseworne on 4885 1996
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The following article has been submitted to the newsletter for the interest of members. If you would like similar articles included in future issues I would welcome your feedback.
Conditioning for Polocrosse By Tania Churchill
Polocrosse is an event that has a significant anaerobic component. Power, speed and stamina are important qualities for the polocrosse horse. The nature of the sport is such that it requires an intermittent pattern of energy expenditure. This means that the aerobic capacity of the horse needs to be maximised, as well as the horse's ability to work at intensities at or above the anaerobic threshold.
The initial phase of conditioning, independent of the sport the horse is intended for, is a period of long slow distance (LSD) training. This training develops the aerobic base of the horse, by conditioning the cardiovascular system. Structural fitness of the horse is also developed, by strengthening muscles, support tissues like ligaments, tendons, joint capsules and hoof tissues, and finally bone.
Upon the completion of the LSD phase, the conditioning program should begin to include some short-duration high-intensity drills, in an interval training format. This sort of work trains the horse's ability to cope with elevated lactate levels, and increases anaerobic capacity.
Polocrosse involves quick changes of direction, as well as quick accelerations and decelerations. Each time the horse changes speed or direction, energy is used to overcome the body's inertia. The effects of inertia account for a significant proportion of the total energy expenditure in polocrosse. Preparation for these events should include inertial drills that mimic the acceleration, deceleration and agility movements of the sport. Training may involve specific movements and drills being repeated in an interval format.
Techniques for Monitoring Fitness
There are a number of techniques that can be used to monitor a horses fitness. The most common methods are monitoring heart rate, and measuring blood lactate. There is a direct relationship between work intensity and heart rate, which allows heart rate to be used as a non-invasive method of measuring intensity and therefore how the horse is coping with the work load.
There are two methods available to the trainer who wants to monitor their horse's heart rate. The first is the traditional method we have all used, involving the use of a stethoscope and watch.
This method does not allow you to determine the horses heart rate while exercising, as by the time you get off and take the horses heart rate, it will have dropped considerably. Heart rates tend to be 10-20 beats per minute (bpm) lower than actual values at moderate to high exercise intensities. However, if the measurement is taken at a consistent time after exercise each time, it gives an indication of the horse's recovery.
The second method of monitoring heart rate involves the use of an equine heart rate monitor. These consist of two electrodes, one placed on the girth and one under the withers, which transmit to a wrist watch receiver that displays the current heart rate as bpm. It is also possible to buy software to enable down-load of the record of heart rates over the duration of the training period.
The continuous heart rate readout that the electronic heart rate monitor allows you to monitor the horse's conditioning program to ensure that the appropriate level of training stress is applied.
Lactate Testing
Lactate testing has proven useful for evaluating performance, prescribing conditioning intensities, monitoring training adaptations (fitness) and subsequently increasing performance.
Lactate is produced in exercising muscle during all intensities of exercise. Because lactate diffuses from muscle to blood, measurements of blood or plasma lactate concentrations will reflect muscle lactate concentrations. To test lactates, a small sample of blood is taken from the jugular vein. The blood is then centrifuged. The separated plasma is then tested for lactate levels using a blood analyser (Radiometer or YSI).
Measurement of the blood lactate response to exercise in conjunction with heart rate, and workload is often a part of the routine physiological assessment of the high-performance human athlete. Lactate testing is now becoming a viable option for the testing of elite equine athletes. There are three main reasons for taking these measurements:
- They serve as indicators of training adaptation - They correlate with endurance performance - They may indicate optimal training stimuli
Heart rate monitoring and lactate analysis are invaluable in assessing the horse's response to the training program- in other words their fitness. The more subjective techniques that an experienced rider will use (monitoring breathing, sweat rate, perceived fatigue) are also important.
Tania Churchill has a degree in equine management and currently owns a small business offering fitness advice and assessment services for equestrian sports. For more information contact Tania on 0408 11 0607, or for more informative articles go to http://members.eisa.net.au/~pequineta/
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