For much of the winter David Lyons looked a
spent force as an International rugby player.
Throughout the Super 14 season his form was
slated by critics: he was too predictable, too
one-dimensional, not dynamic enough. He found
himself relegated to the Waratah's bench. In
May he was a shock omission from the Wallabies
training squad. He didn't play a Test all winter.
Only gradually did it emerge that he had been
suffering from a prolapsed disc in his back.
Either way, it seemed that the 40-Test veteran
and 2004 John Eales medal winner was washed-up
at 26.
Enter University's Strength and Conditioning
coach, Martin Harland. Lyons' problems were
pin-pointed. Two years of injury (groin and
back) had eroded his superb physical attributes.
Barely able to drag himself through an 80-minute
match, Lyons had shunned the gym and the training
paddock. His legs had all but atrophied.
Harland decided to settle the prolapsed disc
in Lyons' back, redevelop his core strength,
then rebuild the dynamism in his legs. Within
13 weeks Lyons was playing a starring role in
the Students dramatic victory over Randwick
in the Tooheys New Cup Final. He was back in
the starting line-up for the Waratahs in the
recent APC tournament. He has been named in
the 37-man squad for the Wallabies Spring Tour.
"My body is feeling really
good," he recently told the Sun-Herald.
"My priority was to build
my core and back strength, and that feels fine
now."
This is a story that says a lot about Lyons.
But it is also a story that speaks volumes for
Martin Harland. Not that he would admit this.
"David makes it easy for
me because he is such a good trainer,"
says Harland. "He looks after
himself, he listens and he's forward thinking
in his own programs. I give him a program and
he embellishes it; and it's only ever with good
things."
The truth is, however, that Harland's skill
as a strength and conditioning coach and his
exquisite understanding of the physiological
make-up of an athlete's body were pivotal in
Lyons' rebirth as a footballer and, consequently,
in the Students' stunning 2006 success. And
this is just one example among many.
"I think there's no coincidence
that Sydney University Rugby was struggling
after the premierships in '99 and 2000,"
says Students' outside centre and Waratah, Tom
Carter. "Then Marty comes
on board, manages an Elite Development Squad
and we've won back-to-back premierships over
the last two years. We've won, I think, nine
premierships out of a possible 14, and won two
Club Championships. Marty's Elite Development
Squad has basically changed the whole club."
The EDS Carter talks of was established by
then-Rugby-Director Todd Louden and Harland
back in 2003 as a pre-season fitness, conditioning
and skills program. This year 25 elite players
will participate in the program that begins
in October.
"For me I was playing Australian
7's, weighing 90 kilos and I was physically
inept," says Carter. "I
was never going to go to the next level. Marty's
EDS has certainly changed me physically to a
point where I can now compete at that level.
It's a feature of 90% of the players that come
out of Sydney Uni Football Club; they're physically
superior. We go into Super 14 programs so much
better off because we're exposed to this high
quality training."
These comments give some indication of Harland's
contribution to the Football club. His work
with the rugby boys, however, is simply one
facet of his incredibly varied program.
"Most trainers only work
in one sport," says President of Sydney
University Sport, Bruce Ross. "Marty
is quite amazing because he works across such
a broad field. He's working, of course, with
our rugby squads, he's had a lot to do with
the extraordinary development our rowers have
experienced, he's recently worked with the Flames,
with the cricketers and, of course, earlier
on with Astrid Loch-Wilkinson representing Australia
in the bobsleigh."
It's this variety of sports, this vast spread
of fitness and strength levels that Harland
thrives on.
For years he worked exclusively with elite-level
football teams: the Illawarra Steelers, St George-Illawarra
Dragons and Sydney Swans. The positions were
an exciting divergence for a young sprinter
turned Olympic bobsleigher (he competed at the
1988 Calgary Olympics before a severe back injury
forced him from the sport in 1989) who completed
an Exercise Science degree with first class
honours in 1994.
It was the huge amount of research he did in
sprinting and power development that saw him
snaffled up by the Steelers as a sprint coach
in 1995. When the club amalgamated with St George
in 1999 his position blossomed into a full-time
strength and conditioning role.
In 2000 he shifted codes to AFL where he worked
as strength coach for the Sydney Swans.
"It was a lot of fun,"
says Harland. "It was very
different; I'd never had anything to do with
the sport before so I really enjoyed it. But
AFL is very full-on in terms of what they ask
of you."
With the birth of his first child Harland rejected
a two-year contract with the Swans and decided
to head back to the Andrew Farrar-coached Dragons.
It was short-lived. With Nathan Brown's appointment
as coach in 2003, Harland's contract was not
renewed.
"It put my nose out at first,"
he says, "but in the end
I think it has been for the best."
Harland shifted to the Sydney Academy of Sport
where he was contracted to work with the Sydney
University Football Club. As the SAS was gradually
consumed by the NSW Institute of Sport, Harland's
involvement with Sydney University deepened.
None of the higher profile NRL or AFL positions,
however, offered the disparate challenges that
Harland now faces at Sydney University. And
it is this variety, this sheer diversity that
Harland revels in.
"With high-level sport everyone
is much the same in terms of training age which
makes it easier if you know your stuff,"
says Harland. "You can bash
the group and you know what will happen. Here
you have a massive training age difference,
from guys and girls who have never trained but
are still fantastic at their sport, to those
who are so highly trained you're really splitting
hairs trying to get those physical results.
"And I love the different
sports. Some sports I've perhaps watched once
- like European Handball - but a scholarship
holder will give me a video of a game, tell
me what they need and away we go. So I'm always
learning as well. You know, high-level coaches
- I pick their brains, high-level athletes -
I pick their brains, medical staff - I pick
their brains. I learn so much here and it keeps
me sane. You never fall into a comfort zone,
never fall into a rut."
And - with Harland's impeccable understanding
of training methods and how they work on a cellular
level - it's unlikely that Sydney University's
fine stable of athletes will slip into a rut.
*A Media and Communications
graduate from Sydney University, Aaron Scott
is currently working as a sports journalist
for Sydney University Sport. He also writes
freelance articles for the Sun-Herald
and Inside Sport.
