Matt Smashalotto leads from the front at last weekend's ANZAC Boot Camp.
Matt “Smashalotto” Natalotto led last weekend’s ANZAC Boot Camp and pre season in Vung Tau. Below is his official report on the weekend.
Day 1 – Saturday morning
On Saturday morning, the 18 participants met for the first session and warm up as planned on a very pleasant beach below shops at the front of the (Statue of) Mary steps. This was the first session to introduce the main warm up exercises we would repeat for the rest of the weekend (later with weight) which included 21-15 -9 Pushups, Sit ups, Squats and Lunges.
After the warm up, Meg Stevens took off like a shot up the stairs and we all followed. The Mary ascent is at least 1,000 steps. It gets very irregular and very steep at the top section. It’s a great lung buster.
Awards:
- Meg for the Queen of the Mountain!
Fines:
- Five players got lost and arrived 15 minutes late for the first warm up.
- Bill arriving (albeit on time) with a 5 star hang over and suffered accordingly
The Saigon Prez, Sam Conroy.
Commendation:
- Richard Quinn for going very hard, very early.
Following the descent of the Mary steps, the most grueling stage of the weekend took place. An 8km run in hot conditions from the Statue of Mary to the Statue of Jesus steps – then up the steps at Jesus! This was a very satisfying session for me as I knew this was our longest endurance effort of the weekend (2.5 hours all up) and it was important that most people got through it. Actually everyone did! Great effort!
Awards:
- Kochie, Ross Munn and Phil Johns for going the full distance
Fines:
- The guys that biked in between.
Commendation:
- Everyone! As they all went the distance
Day 1 – Saturday afternoon
The second session kicked off around 4pm Saturday at the back beach with a repeat of the morning’s warm up – with the addition of weight. Players were made to fill and carry a sand bag each above their head. Depending on each person’s understanding of the metric system, the bags weighed between 8 and 18kg. 21-15-9 Pushups, Sit ups, Squats and Lunges.
Plenty of excitement with the race for the flags.
The next event was the flags. Some inspirational efforts saw some unlikely competitors through to the finals, none more than Bill Crang who ousted (my selection as favorite), Dukesy, to make the final 3 no less! However the fairy tale wasn’t to be and the final between Evo and Dave ended in controversy with Ryan actually tackling Dave half way down the track and putting his win under a spot light. The first ever Vietnam Swans flags championship title remains unnamed. A draw was called.
The flags were followed by beach sprint relays. The race was reduced from the planned 4 x 250 to a 4 x 100m due to limited space on the beach. Four teams competed and an unlikely combination of Kev Hornblower, Bill, Phil Johns and Shagga took honours!
Again conditions played a factor in the iron man event with the race being altered to an out and back event rounding a very innocuous looking flag sitting around 40m offshore. The lads went in hard and it was soon realized a very strong current was in effect and extreme care was needed. [A good reminder not to underestimate the beach – especially at Vung Tau where life guards are simply not going to save you]. In any case it was an uplifting way to finish the day and everyone was pumped from the swim, surf, sun and the sand.
Awards:
- Ryan & Dave – Draw awarded for flags final
- Kev, Bill, Phil, Shagga 4 x 100m champs
Fines:
- Ryan –For his tackle in the flags final!??
- Alex – not enough sand in bag!
Commendation:
- Sam Stevens and Ella for keeping everyone guessing with the flags positioning
- Bill for redeeming himself after capitulating at Mary
- Fabbo – accidentally filling 18kg of sand in his bag!
Evening – Dinner at the Armoury, Worldwide Arms Museuum, Vung Tau
Dinner was at the Armoury on top of the Worldwide Arms Museum. The Armoury is run by Tommy’s Restaurant, a sponsor of the Swannies. The Worldwide Arms Museum is also a sponsor of the Swans.
At the dinner, it was announced that this will be the venue for the Official After 2012 ANZAC Friendship Match Function on 21 April 2012.
The beep test in action.
Day 2 – morning session
The third session was always going to be a heart starter at 9.00am, Sunday, and I knew there were a lot of MIA’s possible. Hence, I sent 18 text messages out advising the start time and venue and demanded everyone’s attendance.
This seemed to work as all, except Mighty and Shagga, made the beep test.
The beep test is a standard set of conditions designed to give runners a score which can be repeated at future points and compared against previous scores and gauge fitness improvement. It is also used to measure minimum fitness levels for various occupations and sports. Please note – the ‘rating’ is based on age vs score only. It does not take into account a person’s weight, speed or hang over status on any given day. Beep test scores and ratings below.
After the test it was back to the beach for our final – you guessed it 21-15-9 Pushups, Sit ups, Squats and Lunges. This time with the beach bear crawl was thrown in. A strong crowd formed to witness the finale’ of our sporting activities for the weekend and see us off to a fitter and hopefully successful start to the 2012 season.
Beep test scores
Name Score Rating
Dave O’Shea 12.1 Above Average
Matt Natalotto 11.0 Excellent
Meg Stevens 10.0 Above Average
Luke Creamer 10.0 Average
Ryan Evans 9.1 Average
Bill Crang 9.0 Below average
Ross Munn 7.5 Average
Alex Polson 7.5 Average
John Mcfarlane 7.2 Average
Damien Judd 7.0 Average
Tim Clements 5.9 Below average
Kev Hornblower 5.7 Poor
Sam Conroy 5.6 Poor
Phil Johns 5.2 Below average
Paul Koch 3.7 Poor
Ella
Bags of sand at the beach, Day 2.
Awards:
- Dave O’shea – Topping the beep test score
Fines:
- Mighty and Shagga for not attending
- Dukesy – late arrival although redeemed by doing the test solo
- Tim and Damo – Late starters jumped in at stage 2.
Commendation:
- Matt – Only excellent rating. (Age is an advantage in this case)
- Meg – great score!
- All 15 who dragged their arses onto the pitch early on a Sunday.
All in all it was an amazing weekend! Here are Some Stats:
- 18 participants in total with each person…
- Climbing or descending over 3000 steps
- Running over 10kms,
- Each person completed 135 push ups, sit ups, Squats and Lunges,
- Each carrying an accumulative weight of 500kg in sand !! (Give or take 250kg)!
- We also ate a combined total of 30 tee bone steaks, 25kg of potato salad, 24 pies, 18 pho’s and 45 Banh mi’s.
- We drank 52 vodka redbull, 68 shots, and 300 beers! ….
- ..and only slept a combined total of 6 hours between us!
…amazing statistics Swannies!
More photos
More photos can be seen on the Swannies’ web album.
Matt Natalotto’s Blog
Check it out at http://saigonsportinglife.blogspot.com/
