Smiles and sprints in the sun
Smiles and sprints in the sun
At 9:52 on Tuesday morning, the players headed out onto the pitch with thermometers already showing temperatures of 26°C. The 15th day of preseason training had already begun at 7:30 with some early-morning strength and stability work. Despite the early start, the summer weather meant that the players appeared happy as they eventually took to the pitch. Temperatures rose even further during the two hours of training that followed, yet Bruno Labbadia’s men kept the positive energy going throughout the session.
"The team does brilliantly no matter what work we set for them. They take it all in their stride. One of the main requirements is that the lads work with a great desire, and they do,” said coach Labbadia, keen to highlight the strong work ethic that exists within his squad.
Köpke and Netz train individually
The head coach famously insists on a good attitude and a high intensity in training. After a long warm-up, today’s training focused mainly on working without the ball in all areas of the pitch, whilst some high-intensity sprints formed the more testing part of the session. 54-year-old Labbadia had almost his entire squad available to him today. Only Pascal Köpke (recent muscular issues) and youngster Luca Netz (recovered from a broken foot) were unable to join the team and instead went through some individual work with fitness coach Hendrik Vieth. “All in all, everything seems to be coming together. Obviously there are the typical little niggles, but that’s natural when you do this volume of training at such a high intensity. But we are taking measures to prevent injuries. We are doing stability training and affording our players extra sleep, and these efforts are starting to bear fruit,” said a satisfied Labbadia.
A tiring training schedule
An extensive few days of work lie ahead of the Hertha players. The lads in blue and white face a triple-header of training sessions on both Wednesday (12.08.20) and Thursday (13.08.20) before a friendly match against Viktoria Köln on Friday (14.08.20, 16:00 CEST). “We have scheduled this third week to be our most intense, after which we will make some changes. We’re focused on our own style of play with the work that we are doing. It’s a very thorough and intense process,” said Labbadia, as he emphasized the ideas behind the training schedule. Despite the heat, the players are getting stuck in with smiles on their faces.
(sj/City-Press)