The Lady Black Cats were led in a yoga session to build core strength and to stretch and relax some of the aching muscles they have earned through the usual running and weights part of pre-season.
Shelley Noble of The Yoga Project told sunderland.fawsl.com: “The main benefits are stretching the muscles, the complete opposite to the hard work and tension the players have been subjecting their muscles to during pre-season. So players are more mobile and supple.
“The main benefit of yoga for footballers is strength, flexibility, focus, breathing techniques and balance. It also incorporates a lot of core strength, if you have a strong core you are strong for everything.
“Yoga is also good for your mental strength, for the players who are always in a competitive mind-set the relaxation at the end of the session can be very beneficial.”
For the players it was a welcome change from the usual routine.
“Yoga was a little bit more difficult than I was expecting,” admitted Stephanie Roche. “It was a real test of your core strength. I really enjoyed it, especially the relaxation at the end, which was much needed after all the hard work we have been doing in pre-season.”
Photo: sunderland.fawsl.com
