Pre-Season, Preparation and Planning

Pre-season training for field and court sports is a critical period where athletes build on the foundation they laid in the summer time for the intense demands of the upcoming season. A key component of this preparation is managing both intensity and volume within training sessions. Striking the right balance is essential to building capacity, improving performance, and reducing the risk of injury. By carefully increasing intensity and training volume in a structured manner, athletes can enhance their physical capacities, setting the stage for a successful season ahead.

When looking at a pre-season training phase, it's best to look back at the same relative week the year prior (August 23 vs August 24) to compare practice plans, durations, and ‘load’ of your 4 key metrics.  Looking back will allow coaches to dial in a starting point and practice plan based on your historical data - looking at daily intensities and volumes along with the cumulative weekly loads for the first week of preseason can be wildly beneficial for planning for your next pre-season calendar. If the year prior involved a lot of injuries, soft tissue or otherwise, you know that the players were likely not ready for the loads put upon them or the training plan involved too much intensity and too much volume too soon. See below for a relative ‘same three week’ comparison for 2023 vs 2024 - these tables are looking at weekley cumulative totals for the team.

You can see in the above example when comparing the same relative three week period, there are not huge changes from 2023 to 2024. There are a couple situations where there was an increase for a given metric, but overall the loads were ‘lower’ in 2024 vs 2023.  Looking at these date ranges side by side allows coaches to make adjustments to practicing planning. In the near future, the compare page on the DataViz Platform will be a handy tool for these types of comparisons. 

Below is an example of daily team averages for the same relative three week period for 2023 vs 2024.  You can see some very consistent training loads and durations of practice when comparing these two time periods, with no massive changes in intensities or volumes. Ideally change comes with cause and effect. To reiterate, if the previous year came with a lot of injuries and poor performances, it is best to make adjustments accordingly. The table also provides % difference from 2023 vs 2024 to provide a reference point for changes in Distance and Sprint Distance.

The main objective here is to look back retrospectively to see what you did in the past which will allow you to better prepare for the present training phase. Some real world considerations are the training level of your players (freshmen vs seniors), athletes coming off summer break, previous injury history, and previous season outcomes. It is important to take these things into consideration when building out your training phases.  It's crucial to monitor the athlete's response to increased intensity and volume closely.  This can be done through your GPS/Heart Rate tracking system, wellness surveys, and other performance technologies (force plate, jump mats, timing gates, etc).  Signs of fatigue, decreased performance, or emerging injuries should prompt a reduction in intensities and volumes along with prescribing recovery modalities.