We are now into week 10 of pre-season for the 2023/24 season with the first of our 2 friendlies coming up this weekend away at Ampthill. Here’s what Jack Westley, Head of Strength and Conditioning, had to say about pre-season.
“Pre-season presents us with a massive opportunity to optimise our performance heading into the Championship season. We use this time to develop key components of our game model, including technical skill, tactical execution, and physical overload. It’s also a great time of year to integrate some team-building activities and build cohesion within the group, with lots of new faces around the Bay this season.”
“As an S&C department, our overall aim is to prepare the players to go above and beyond the demands of the game so that they can execute the game plan efficiently on the weekend. We put together a progressive programme which allows us to physically overload different elements of the technical and tactical game model on the field. Having GPS at the club, we have a huge database of running metrics collected over the course of the 2022/23 season which allows us to safely monitor and progress our loading on a daily and weekly basis. We also understand the importance of the contact area in our sport, so preparing the players to be contact ready is a major KPI that we programme for the players throughout the course of pre-season.”
“This weekend we will be getting our first hit-out with a pre-season friendly at Ampthill. These friendlies are crucial to our preparation, as they allow us to get a first look at all the work that we’ve put in over the last 10 weeks. They present an opportunity to look at players, old and new, to get a good understanding of where we’re at currently and where we need to go before the start of the season campaign. The lads have worked so hard this pre-season and they’re really looking forward to getting stuck in this weekend. We’re hoping to see as many fans as possible down at Ampthill to get behind the boys.”