Importance of Pre-Season Training

Performance in football develops depending on many factors such as technical, biomechanical, tactical, mental and physiological areas. In a football match, elite level players run an average of 10 km at a maximal heart rate of 80-90%, at an intensity close to the anaerobic threshold. Explosive force elements such as jumping, hitting the ball, and sprinting are often included in this endurance structure. Therefore, players have to have sufficient capacity in all football-related fields instead of having a high level in a single field.

The annual training period can be divided into three main parts: the preparatory phase, the competition phase, and the transition phase. During the preparation phase, this phase is of great importance for the entire training year, as the athlete strives to establish the general foundations of the physical, technical, tactical and psychological preparation required for the competition phase. Inadequate training in this phase will have visible effects that cannot be corrected by any training method during the competition phase.

Although the preparation phase for team sports should not be shorter than 2-3 months, the top league teams cannot find the necessary time for the preparation phase, especially if they participate in the qualifying rounds of the European cups. Trainers, who have a short period of 1-1.5 months for the preparation phase, have to allocate a large part of this time to aerobic and anaerobic endurance exercises, while following the basic training theories, "to deal with features such as strength, speed and mobility as well as basic endurance". Thus, players may be deprived of the development of one or more of the physical and physiological elements that they need for the entire match season and that need to be fully developed.

It is known that physical and physiological characteristics are in a relationship with each other. For this reason, the insufficient development of one or more of the physical and physiological characteristics affects other qualities and this situation is directly reflected in the match performance of the footballers. This inadequacy in football players not only causes a physical deficiency, but also a technical-tactical deficiency. For example; While “optimal speed cannot be built with a weak musculature”, neither can an effective middle, shot, or long-range pass. Thus, the technical-tactical structure based on effective crossing, passing and/or shooting is also disrupted. The sum of these shortcomings can become one of the main reasons for failure in matches.

Bompa (2003), Harre (1982) and Dick (1980) stated that when the loading does not comply with the loading principles and is not done with a complex training sequence, development can be delayed. It can be said that the lack of improvement in some of the features of the athletes depends on the sequence of the trainings done in the preparation phase.

The fact that league and cup matches start at an early date causes the coaches to not find the time to complete the preparation phase properly. For this reason, coaches try to improve all qualities at the same time, or they have to postpone others while improving some qualities. This situation causes deficiencies in the complex training sequence mentioned. Thus, the players cannot show the necessary development and cannot keep in full form, and injuries, unexpected defeats, etc. negativities can harm the teams.

When the literature is examined, it is seen that training programs applied for 4, 5, or 6 weeks do not have a significant effect on the development of many physical and physiological characteristics, while 8-10 week training programs provide the development of similar parameters. Therefore, it can be said that; The preparatory phase, which lasts less than 8 weeks, cannot fully develop many of the physical and physiological characteristics. One of the measures in order to prevent the negativities arising from the inability of the teams to pass the preparation phase efficiently; Making good use of the transitional phase, also called “off-season”, which lasts for 3-4 weeks, includes enough rest to ensure the physical and psychological rejuvenation of the athlete, and is supported by training to be done 3 or 5 times a week depending on the level of efficiency in sports, Although it is to ensure that a good start is made, perhaps the more important and productive one is to ensure that the preparation season is spread over enough time to reach its goal.

As mentioned in article, pre-season trainings and friendly games are of great importance for the season performance of the teams. Sporika enable teams to play friendly games with various level rivals and moreover, offers top quality facilities for training.