Most youngsters who play soccer tend not to become unfit during the off season – they will often take part in other sports and generally stay fit and active.

The pre-season period is the time they reconnect with the game and recondition their bodies, getting their muscles and neural pathways used to playing and moving in a soccer way again. 

The reconditioning work that pre-season brings to your players’ fitness levels will reduce their risk of getting injured when the rigours of the regular season begin.

The main ingredients of a good pre-season include:

• Increasing your players’ base strength and endurance capacity.
• Helping them to re-program the movement characteristics of football.
• Enhancing their gross and fine motor skills for the game, through lots of ball work.
• Personalising their readiness for match play, via focused, deliberate practice matches and coaching.

After taking the above into account, planning your pre-season work should not differ from any other time of the season, with a focus for players primarily on enjoyment, learning and practice.

The key elements of a pre-season session

A session can contain the following parts:

Dynamic group warm-up

This is aimed at raising the heart rate. It should include jogging, jumping, twisting and turning, but it shouldn’t include static stretching.

Given the fact that pre-season most often takes place during hot weather, it’s important to pay particular attention to the warm-up section of a session.

Here’s an example.

Technical warm-up

This is aimed at giving players lots of touches of the ball and should comprise unopposed multi-ball, multi-directional activities. A variety of shapes can be used to achieve this.

Some of my go-tos are: The passing box, Tricolour and Connecting.

Personalised session

This is focused, deliberate practice, aimed at addressing individual and unit needs. It is a game-based format.

Some of my go-tos are: Repetition circuit, End-to-end and back and Combat 2v2.

Group practice

This is aimed at building skilful play. It is a game-based format, with a clear objective and opportunities for decision-making. Playing in a big group will also lower the pre-season intensity. 

The practice should reflect the rules of the game: It should be played on a rectangular pitch, with two goals placed centrally at either end. A halfway line should be marked out, with offside applying.

Work should be based on the principles of play, and coaches should intervene as little as possible to allow playing time to be maximised.

Small-sided game

This allows players to show the coach how clever and inventive they can be. 

As with the group practice, it should reflect the rules of the game, and coach interventions should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Learn more about how to make the most of group practices and small-sided games.

Cool down

This is to allow players to get their bodies back to baseline state. It should include static stretching.

Here’s an example.