Shaping Up

With the heat of the summer being felt in Plymouth, Derek and his staff are preparing to greet the players upon their return next week with the perfect pre-season programme to ensure their fitness for the 2015-16 season. 

 

“We start on Monday, July 6,” said Adams. “Everything’s just getting prepared this week; the coaching staff are very busy organising the pre-season.

 

“We’ll have the majority of the squad in by the opening day of pre-season – we might have two or three players to add to that during pre-season, and that’ll be the squad we’ll go with.” 

 

As many an ex-professional will tell you, the fitness of any player, especially during the off-season, is under greater scrutiny than ever before. With that in mind, Derek expects to meet up on Monday with a set of players ready to have their physical shape thoroughly tested.

 

“We’ll have a fitness test on Monday morning,” said Adams, “then we’ll have a track run in the afternoon. We’ll go into a bit of ball-work on Tuesday and back to the track in the afternoon. 

 

“It’s that kind of busy schedule that we have for the first fortnight, and it’s going to be hard work for them.

 

“I would expect them to be in very good shape. We start pre-season in the way we’re going to start the season. If they’re not in good shape, they’ll be lagging behind, and if they lag behind, it becomes very difficult for them. They’ll have to be in excellent shape to start the pre-season, and if they’re not, they’ll have a wee problem.”