Fitogether Voices: Simba SC & Mali National Team’s Head of Performance, Riedoh Berdien

Welcome back to FitogetherVoices, where we spotlight the leaders, innovators, and change-makers who shape the future of performance in football. This time, we’re excited to feature Riedoh Berdien , who serves as Head of Performance at SimbaSCTanzania and as Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Mali National Team.

1. Hi Riedoh! Could you please introduce yourself and describe your role at the club? What are your main responsibilities on a day-to-day basis?

“Season’s Greetings! my name is Riedoh Berdien, Head of Performance at Simba Sports Club and Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Mali National Team.?

As Head of Performance at SimbaSCTanzania, my main responsibility is to work with the coaches and managers on training session periodization and exercise design, ensuring each session best suits the manager’s playing style. Everything is guided towards the team and linked to the game model installed by the manager. We analyze every session and exercise, tying it to the physical outputs needed for our playing style.

I also oversee individual periodization, advising our technical team on each player’s availability and conditioning levels. Each session and exercise from our OHCOACH data carries a specific physical load, so load management—monitoring and tracking metrics daily, weekly, and monthly—is one of my key tasks.

Another big part of my job is designing the overall football conditioning periodization model, which includes the preseason, in-season, and off-season programs. Balancing performance coaching with injury-prevention strategies, bridging coaching, sports science, and medical aspects to improve our players on and off the pitch.

With Mali National Team, the roles are quite similar, but there’s an added emphasis on building relationships with players’ clubs for data-sharing and continuous monitoring on the National Team. The OHCOACH GPS system plays a big part here, bridging communication between federation staff and club sport science teams.

2. Oh great! You’ve been using OHCOACH GPS for a few months. How has it helped you with training and preparing the team?

Respectfully, I’ve worked with many GPS systems at previous football clubs and federations—Sundowns, Young Africans, Gambia National Team, and the South Africa National Team, to name a few. I’ve been really impressed with the OHCOACH Fitogether System because it helps guide my coaches using objective facts when designing training sessions and preparing the team both tactically and physically.

The system provides valuable data ensuring players are neither overtrained nor undertrained, thus reducing the risk of underperformance or injury. In a professional environment, knowing “WHEN” to do “WHAT” is crucial, and that’s exactly what OHCOACH guides us to do. It offers stability within training sessions, whether they’re recovery-oriented or focused on conditioning. I’ve seen a good balance between my teams’ freshness and overall fitness, giving the players more confidence in our conditioning methods.

I also started integrating OHCOACH extensively when it comes to the club’s return to play protocols, strengthening the collaboration between rehab specialists and S&C Coaches. The live stream function has been a huge asset, as it provides real-time data crucial for managers who need to make high-stakes decisions on the fly. Information is vital, but having it at the right time can make all the difference–-the live stream function really supports that process!?

3. That’s good to hear that you are impressed with our system so far! And we saw that Mali has qualified for AFCON and Simba SC is at the top of the league. Congratulations! How did OHCOACH help you get your players achieve these big moments?

Thank you! Credit goes to the players and coaching staff. But certainly, Fitogether and the OHCOACH system played a role by offering vital tools to track and manage performance data.

For Mali National Team:

Mali’s success in qualifying for AFCON 2025 was really special. We have top professionals playing for top football Leagues like English Premier League,German Bungesliga, Serie A, French League 1 and La Liga etc. In national team contexts, it’s about maintaining conditioning and sharing data to benefit each player. Those who arrive fit and fresh must return in the same condition. OHCOACH helped Mali’s sports science department manage game intensity load vs. training load, including situations where players played two games in five days, then 24 hours later had to play 90 minutes at high intensity upon returning to their clubs. Our national team captain, Yves Bissouma, has become a key figure at Tottenham Hotspur and for Mali, leading us to finish top of our group unbeaten. He was also named to the CAF African All-Star XI 2025.

For SimbaSCTanzania:

We’ve just reached the halfway mark of the season. OHCOACH was crucial during preseason, helping us manage training loads. Our player availability has been one of our contributing factors so far. We have had minimal to zero muscular injuries while installing the high physical demands of the coaches playing style. The long periods of matches on irregular pitches can be challenging, but OHCOACH helps us handle the load professionally and reduce injury risks. The coaches have also effectively used rotation while maintaining strong performances and results. At Simba, we have several national team players, so we periodize them individually to keep them fit and ready for selection. Currently, Simba is on top of the NBC League table and has qualified for the next round of the CAF Confederations Cup.

4. Are there any specific tables, graphs, or metrics in OHCOACH’s Ultimate platform that you rely on the most? Why are those features particularly useful?

When I first looked at the OHCOACH dashboard, I was really impressed by how simple and organized it is. At Simba and Mali NT, we start sessions extensively and gradually increase the session details intensively. From a training perspective, we follow a football conditioning method. We begin with low to medium-base exercises and progress to short-volume, high-match-intensity base exercises.

On MD-4/5 : the conditioning focus is on strength elements, transitioning gym-based movements onto the pitch. Small-Sided Games serve as our stimulus on MD-4, physically focusing on the distance covered, power, change of direction (COD), acceleration, and deceleration metrics.

On MD-3 : the conditioning focus shifts to endurance or sometimes strength endurance. Football conditioning exercises like extensive base circuits and Large-Sided Games are the preferred stimuli, as they impact total distance, intensity (m/min), and HSR metrics.

MD-2 : sessions are shorter in volume, focusing on intensive technical exercises with Medium-Sided Games. Speed endurance is the key conditioning element for these sessions. Metrics such as HSR, sprint distance, max speed (m/s), and intensity (m/min) are emphasized.

MD-1: is more of an activation-type session, combining various football conditioning elements. Speed reaction and cognitive-based exercises are the conditioning focus. RPE and heart rate responses are the primary metrics used for this session.

“Now, we’re currently preparing for Simba SC’s CAF Confederations Cup campaign. Being in mid-season, we need to carefully manage training load and fatigue—especially because in Africa, traveling can take around two days, leading to travel fatigue. So at this point, we focus on maintaining freshness and fitness. The OHCOACH metrics I rely on most here are RPE and Heart Rate responses during sessions. We’ve also reduced our total training volume and distance covered.”?

5. That’s awesome, Riedoh! You mentioned using RPE and heart rate to adjust training loads. Can you share an example of how this solved a problem??

Sure! If heart rate responses are irregular during sessions, it’s a sign to adjust the load, focusing on balancing freshness and fitness. Combining this with RPE feedback gives coaches and the team clear insights to improve sessions. High RPE readings are flagged to the medical staff and coaches as a warning, while low readings guide us to increase the load to enhance conditioning.

6. And how do you manage travel fatigue in Africa using RPE and heart rate? Can you give an example of how this worked before or after a game?

So, our RPE questionnaires for the team, which are done regularly before and after matches, are designed and integrated into the OHCOACH system. These questionnaires focus on sleeping patterns and fatigue components of the players. They are also analyzed alongside the heart rate responses from training sessions to evaluate whether the players have fully recovered or not. The RPE and heart rate data are combined with the training session load, giving us valuable feedback to make decisions on freshness and fitness components.

7. Amazing. I hope everything goes smoothly with your team’s preparations. You also seem very passionate and detail oriented? as a coach. Do you have a favorite motivational quote or message that you always say to your players? Why is it meaningful to you and the team?

Our method is a hard, smart-working football conditioning method, and the coaching team follows the quote:

“You versus You.”

The players understand this concept well. It emphasizes that the only person you’re really competing against is yourself—challenging your own limits and striving for continuous improvement.

As we wrap up this feature, it’s clear that every detail—from individual load management to high-level periodization—plays a part in Riedoh Berdien’s approach to excellence on and off the pitch. His success with both Simba Sports Club and the Mali National Team shows how OHCOACH can make a tangible difference in performance, injury prevention, and overall team synergy.

If you’re curious about how OHCOACH could empower your own players and coaches, reach out and have a chat with our experts—we’d be more than happy to share insights and help your team excel!

Thank you for following this edition of Fitogether Voices! We’ll be back soon with more top stories and strategies from top professionals in the world of football. In the meantime, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter so you never miss an update!