Underway in Kienbaum
Hertha’s first pre-season training camp is underway! Just before midday, the team bus pulled into the Olympic Training Centre in Kienbaum, and the doors opened, with five goalkeepers and 25 outfielders stepping out into the late morning sunshine and setting up their rooms at the training centre. After a meal together, head coach Sandro Schwarz organised the first training session of the camp in the afternoon. “Training camps are always good. They like to keep it simple here, which I like a lot – things don’t always have to be luxurious, and we have everything we need. Good beds, good food and a nice facility – even the projector works for the video analysts! It’s a nice place and we feel good here,” said Schwarz, giving his first impressions of the Brandenburg facility.
Communication the order of the day
The first training session started with a relaxed jog under the watchful eyes of fitness coaches Henrik Kuchno and Markus Hödl. Following that warm-up, Schwarz and his assistants organised the squad into passing drills and other small-sided games: first with six small goal nets on a small pitch, and then with four larger goals. One impressive element from the session was the extremely loud and clear communication, which came not only from coach Schwarz but also the players themselves – Prince Boateng was seen taking youngster Mesut Kesik aside and giving him tips to improve, whilst Schwarz had a one-on-one chat with Luca Wollschläger. Messages and instructions came on a minute-by-minute basis to the rest of the squad: “Let’s have precise, serious passing! Be active, push up!” were just some of the shouts echoing around the Kienbaum pitches. With that, the 80-minute long opening session came to an end. “It’s the coach’s job to give the players hints and advice in the training sessions and make sure they notice certain things. There were a lot of positives today: the lads are very active,” said Schwarz, satisfied.
Kwasigroch and Lee training individually – Nsona missing
Robert Kwasigroch and Dongjun Lee weren’t with the rest of the squad. They instead trained individually on a nearby pitch. “Lee still has muscular problems and will probably only be able to train with the team from the second training camp onwards. Robert has an issue with his wrist, but I don’t think it’ll be a long-term injury,” reported our coach. Kélian Nsona was missing from training completely due to a knock he suffered to his knee last week. He won’t be available for the coming days because of this twisted knee.
The remaining Hertha players will train twice on Tuesday (10:00 and 16:00 CEST) and on Wednesday morning at 11:00 CEST. They will then play the first friendly of pre-season against TuS Makkabi Berlin at 18:00 CEST. “We want to be lively, defend from the front and continue to grow as a group. We want to see the first signs of that during the friendlies,” demanded the 33-year-old.
Our squad in Kienbaum
Oliver Christensen, Rune Jarstein, Tjark Ernst, Robert Kwasigroch, Tim Goller, Julian Eitschberger, Linus Gechter, Marc Kempf, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Marvin Plattenhardt, Jordan Torunarigha, Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Lukas Ullrich, Filip Uremović, Santiago Ascacíbar, Prince Boateng, Lucas Tousart, Vladimír Darida, Javairô Dilrosun, Jonjoe Kenny, Suat Serdar, Mesut Kesik, Dongjun Lee, Dodi Lukébakio, Myziane Maolida, Jessic Ngankam, Marco Richter, Derry Scherhant, Davie Selke, Luca Wollschläger