Pre Season

Pre Season training sends a shiver down most players training. Players seem to believe that all physiological conditioning work is finished once the season begins. I believe that this is a mistake as I dont believe in a mAitanance stage over the course of an entire season. We need to look at the overall structure of our plans and take a big picture view and be flexible in what we do. Too often I see the overall fitness levels drop throughout a season and this is because of the training plan. Fitness levels can be increased but must be juggled beteen recovery and performance etc. There may be phases in the season where there are many games in a small amount of time for example I have a team that has 5 games in 10 days so during this time recovery is important. Dont get caught in the Pre Season trap of getting players ready for round 1 and thinking your job is done. The difficulties of the job have not even started.