With the men’s first-team putting in the work in on their pre-season camp in Slovenia, Director of Performance Services Dr Will Abbott explained the sessions the players have been completing.
“This is week two of pre-season, out in Slovenia,” he said. “The players have been completing morning and afternoon pitch-based sessions, football conditioning sessions and working in the gym on strength and power.
“Away from the pitch and the gym, they’ve been completing goal-setting meetings and various debriefs. So it’s been a really, really busy week but a really, really productive week, and we’re looking forward to finishing with our game tomorrow.”
The players have been put through their paces, but Abbott explained how these few weeks will set the squad up for the season.
“You only get one shot at pre-season,” he explained. “Pre-season is a unique opportunity to really look to develop some of those physical qualities and robustness for what’s going to be a really, really gruelling and competitive season once we start. So the work put in here over the next six weeks is going to stand us in really, really good stead moving forward.
“There’s a big body of literature that suggests that the higher proportion of work you complete during a pre-season period, focussed upon physical development, stands you in really, really good stead for your availability and your robustness throughout the course of a competitive season. So that’s been a big objective of ours over the six-week pre-season period.”
Abbott has been impressed with the players’ application during the camp. “Week one was tough, and week two has been even tougher,” he said.
“The players have dealt with absolutely everything that’s been asked of them and approached it with a fantastic attitude and a fantastic work ethic - everything that you’d expect and want to see from a Charlton Athletic team.”
Equally impressive are the facilities that the squad are using. “Myself and Andy [Scott] came out to Slovenia back in March to get a head start in terms of preparing for this upcoming pre-season and season,” said Abbott.
“I’ve never actually been to Slovenia myself, nor this area, but having spent a week here it’s got absolutely everything that you want to put in place an effective pre-season, and put the foundations in place for a really successful season moving forward.
“In addition the scenery is absolutely fantastic - you won’t find many places better than this in order to complete the work that you want to do in pre-season.”
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