BY GENEVRA PITTMAN

In print | October 11, 2007

Strength, flexibility and mental focus are all essential aspects of training that every team works to develop during the season, hoping they can count on these attributes in key moments in big games. Most squads rely on practice drills and lifting sessions to build these components of their game, but this year the Garnet men’s soccer team has taken a new approach to its preparation by adding a unique training method to its usual repertoire Budokon.

The team has been practicing this form of martial art in weekly 75-minute sessions with the owners of Enso, a new studio in Media. [Gwen Soffer] and Adam Marcus started their business this fall and in anticipation of that they asked me if we wouldn’t be interested in working with them, said Coach Eric Wagner, who is friends with Soffer’s husband. I was a bit skeptical at first because during our season we have a lot of things we have to cover. But he decided to talk with Soffer and Marcus, and later invited them for a trial session with him and a few players that were at Swarthmore during the summer. I was so impressed immediately with the value that I saw in the actual exercise that they presented to me that I decided to try it out myself, he said. When he tried it with the players, we were all very impressed that it was [relevant to soccer]. The rest of the team was introduced to Budokon during preseason, and apparently enjoyed it so much that Wagner scheduled sessions for the rest of the season, and many players are hoping to continue practicing during the offseason as well.

According to Marcus, the team’s primary instructor, Budokon is a fusion of yoga, martial arts and meditation ¦ It takes these different concepts and brings them together into one art form, he said. Each time the team practices Budokon, its session is made up of these three aspects.

We do the mental meditation part and then we do stretching and yoga exercises, Garnet forward Ladule Lako LoSarah ’09 said. Finally, the team does movement exercises, in which they travel across the floor, imitating the body movements of different animals. One of the favorites is the komodo dragon, Lako LoSarah said. This exercise incorporates push-up like movements that alternate from side to side as players move across the floor.

One of the reasons the team has responded so well to the Budokon practice is that it is a total body strength exercise that players don’t have access to in other aspects of their training. The guys really enjoy the fact that it is a strength workout but it is very challenging because it’s a different skill, Wagner said. Evan Nesterak ‘09 agreed. [Budokon] keeps you fresh because you’re having to use your muscles in a different way, and that can translate out to the field, he said.

Budokon is all about reconnecting with your body movements and moving with the fullest potential that you have, Marcus said. It really develops incredible full body strength because what you end up doing is drawing upon a whole host of muscles in your body.

The team says the workouts primarily target core muscles, focusing on total body flexibility and stabilization. However, more than the physical benefits the men have seen from the exercises, the team appreciates the mental components of the practice and how they can translate to their play.

The mental aspect I think is the most important, Lako LoSarah said. It helps you situate yourself in the moment, which I think is very important for soccer. He gave the example of being in a goal-scoring opportunity, and how that mental focus can prevent even the briefest lapse of attention that could ruin the play. If you’re completely, singularly focused on that one moment to put the ball in the goal, it really helps, he said.

Wagner emphasized the importance of the mental part of the training as well. With all of the pressures on Swarthmore students, he said, you can easily get distracted ¦ We’re trying to get the guys to stay focused for an entire training session or an entire season or an entire match.

The Budokon sessions have also been a source of team bonding for the squad, as it is an activity that the players look forward to every week. The guys at first kind of laughed about it, Lako LoSarah said. But I think the guys are really starting to like it now and are really starting to see its benefits.

Wagner recounted a bus trip back from a game against St. Mary’s College, when the team pulled into Swarthmore at 1:45am after having slept for most of the trip back. Just as were pulling in I mention, Don’t forget, tomorrow we have Budokon,’ he said, And immediately the entire bus erupted in … Yes! Budokon!’ I think we have a winner here.

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