During soccer pre-season it's important to focus on several key areas to prepare yourself physically and mentally for the upcoming season. These go beyond simply becoming more fit and cover a range of aspects. Below are some examples that you might not have considered which may be beneficial to your current training program.
Firstly, and likely most top of mind for most players, conditioning should be a key focus of your pre-season. Each player should aim to improve their level of general fitness and cardiovascular endurance. Incorporate aerobic exercise such as running, interval training or performing shuttle runs.
Another area to practice is skill development of technical abilities including passing, shooting, dribbling and ball control. Players should try to schedule regular practice sessions for these skills and aim to improve their efficiency and technique.
Additionally, game intelligence is a skill that is sometimes overlooked during pre-season but when properly developed, may be extremely beneficial to players. By watching competitive matches and examining the tactics used by successful teams and players specifically looking at the decisions made in various game situations, such as positional play and off-the-ball moves allows players to consider ways they could incorporate this into their game.
Another huge part of preparing for the next season is considering your mental preparation. Whilst waiting for the next season to begin players should try and develop resilience, concentration and a positive outlook. Practising visualisation methods, goal-setting, and stress management techniques to keep mentally alert and motivated during the physically and psychologically demanding preseason.
Likewise nutrition and hydration should play a pivotal role whilst getting ready for the next season. Paying attention to your diet and ensuring you're fueling your body with nutritious food as well as staying properly hydrated before, during and after training sessions will ensure your performance and recovery is optimised.
Finally, rest and recovery. We can’t overlook the importance of rest and recovery. Allowing your body enough time to recuperate between intense training sessions will prevent injuries and optimise performance. Prioritise quality sleep to aid in recovery and rejuvenation.
Remember, pre-season is a crucial period to lay a solid foundation for the upcoming season. Focus on consistent effort, discipline, and improvement in all areas of your game to set yourself up for success.
With all these key areas in mind, how does GPS tracking play a role?
GPS tracking can be a valuable tool during pre-season for players. It offers accurate data and insights that you and your coaching team may use to keep track of and improve upon your performance. Here are some of the key benefits of GPS monitoring and how it might enhance your performance:
Monitoring Workload: GPS tracking allows you to measure metrics such as distance covered, speed, acceleration, and deceleration. By analysing this data you can ensure that you're gradually increasing your training load, managing fatigue, and minimising the risk of overtraining or injury.
Performance Analysis: GPS data provides valuable information about your performance during training sessions and matches. It can help you identify areas where you excel and areas that need improvement. For example, you can analyse your sprinting speed, High-intensity running distance, and work rate to gauge your fitness and assess your performance against specific benchmarks. STATSports APEX tracker tracks 16 of the key metrics meaning you can get a deeper insight and gain that extra edge in your training. These metrics can be compared to the pros such as Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Katie McCabe in the app and allow you to aim towards the pro-level benchmark.
Position-Specific Insights: GPS tracking can provide position-specific data, allowing you to understand the physical demands of your position. For instance, midfielders may focus on covering more distance, while forwards may focus on explosive sprints and quick changes of direction. Another key feature that helps track this is the heat maps. STATSports technology allows you to see specifically what areas of the pitch you covered most, where you made your sprints and in what direction. This helps identify where your strengths and weaknesses are making it easier to plan your next session knowing the specific areas to focus on.
Recovery Optimisation: GPS tracking can assist you and/or your coaching team in making key decisions on rest intervals, training intensities, and scheduling recovery sessions by looking at metrics like heart rate variation, training load, and fatigue levels. This can help you avoid injuries and perform at your best throughout the preseason meaning you will come back fitter and faster into the next season.
Goal Setting and Progress Tracking: GPS data can be used to set performance goals and track your progress over time. By comparing your metrics from one training session to the next, you can assess your improvement, identify trends, and make adjustments to your training plan accordingly. One popular feature of the app is the community benchmarks where you can compare yourself other players who play the same position and see how you rank against them.
Overall it's important to note that GPS tracking is just one tool among many in your training arsenal. It should be used alongside the points listed above and can unlock an advanced level of preparation both mentally and physically. When these are combined correctly, your pre-season training will really shape you for the upcoming season.