{"id":28089,"date":"2024-10-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=28089"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:01:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:01:37","slug":"pre-season-preparations-why-a-home-from-home-can-make-all-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/pre-season-preparations-why-a-home-from-home-can-make-all-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Season Preparations: Why a Home from Home Can Make All the Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 23 Oct 2024 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Pre-Season Preparations: Why a Home from Home Can Make All the Difference<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a>, Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/pre-season-preparations-why-a-home-from-home-can-make-all-the-difference\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Watford, West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday all decamped to St George\u2019s Park in July. We explore five factors that informed their choice.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Main photo: Watford FC\/Alan Cozzi<\/p>\n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
There is rarely people lining up to praise the English weather, but the coaches and performance staff of Watford, West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday have their reasons.<\/h6>\n

The three Championship clubs held pre-season training camps at St George\u2019s Park in July when a number of their counterparts were visiting foreign climes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can guarantee that the weather isn\u2019t going to impact training loads,\u201d says Watford Head Coach Tom Cleverley, who took his side to SGP between 22 and 27 July. \u201cSometimes you can go to Spain, Portugal and it\u2019s too hot to get the intensities that you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the week of pre-season where Watford started their out-of-possession work and intensity was a must. \u201cYou can\u2019t be intense the whole pre-season because you\u2019ll burn them out,\u201d Cleverley tells the Leaders Performance Institute, \u201cbut for one week of pre-season, we identified that week where we could work twice a day on the pitch; we could have a meeting every day in the morning about what we\u2019re going after; and then a meeting in the evening about a target that we\u2019ll set for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Strudwick is of a similar mindset, as he tells the Leaders Performance Institute of SGP. \u201cWe\u2019re guaranteed a consistent weather pattern,\u201d says West Brom\u2019s Director of Medical. \u201cWe want to try to create that level of consistency in pre-season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 330-acre Staffordshire facility, which includes a Hilton Hotel, boasts 14 state-of-the-art football pitches, which can be configured for a variety of sports, as well as a range of indoor facilities including a full 3G pitch, a multifunctional sports hall, gym, hydrotherapy pools and a cryotherapy chamber. It suited West Brom to a tee. \u201cThe one-site solution is perfect for us,\u201d Strudwick adds.<\/p>\n

West Brom spent 13 to 20 July at SGP \u2013 hot on the tails of Sheffield Wednesday, whose camp took place between 8 and 13 July.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou literally come off the training pitch, you\u2019re into recovery, lunch, you can maybe get your feet up for an hour or two and be ready for the next session and then it\u2019s the same in the morning,\u201d Neil Thompson, the Assistant Manager at Sheffield Wednesday, tells the Leaders Performance Institute.<\/p>\n

Here, we explore three clubs with five similar reasons for choosing SGP for part of their pre-season work.<\/p>\n

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  1. An escape from monotony<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Monotony was a big issue for Championship clubs in an off-season that for those not involved in the play-offs ran from the last day of the 2023-24 season (4 May) to the opening day of the 2024-25 season (10 August).<\/p>\n

    The gap led to an extended pre-season. \u201cA seven-week pre-season is longer than usual,\u201d says Cleverley, who explains that the club\u2019s own training ground \u201ccan become monotonous if you\u2019re doing double sessions every day for seven weeks\u201d. SGP, on the other hand, is \u201csecond to none\u201d in his view.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt can freshen things up a bit and create an impact,\u201d says Strudwick, adding that it allowed West Brom\u2019s own training pitches a further week to recover. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound like a long time, six or seven weeks, but given that you\u2019re going to be at the training ground for the next 38 weeks, it does make sense to create something unique and special.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Tom Cleverley, the Head Coach of Watford, explains tactics to his players. (Photo: Watford FC\/Alan Cozzi)<\/p><\/div>\n

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    1. Enhanced bonding activities<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      SGP enabled all three teams the opportunity to promote team bonding, which is particularly critical early in pre-season when new players and staff are settling in.<\/p>\n

      \u201cYou\u2019re there and living in each other\u2019s pockets for a week,\u201d says Thompson. \u201cYou might speak to an individual who you\u2019ve never spoken to in depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

      There are nurmeous \u201cbreakout areas\u201d around the Hilton too, as Strudwick explains. \u201cThere are plenty of opportunities for players and coaches to interact and engage.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe team spirit aspect, I really enjoy,\u201d says Cleverley. \u201cSo keeping guys together between sessions, they\u2019re not on their digital devices, they\u2019re together in the evenings, they\u2019re eating together, they\u2019re not going straight back to their rooms \u2013 they want to be around each other for that week \u2013 which really builds something to move forward for the whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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      Neil Thompson, the Assistant Manager of Sheffield Wednesday. (Photo: Jacques Feeney\/Getty Images)\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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      1. Increased training opportunities<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        There is real value in English teams booking camps in southern and central Europe \u2013 Sheffield Wednesday also arranged camps in Germany and Austria \u2013 but there is something to be said for having everything on hand at one site at a familiar venue. It is instructive that each of Watford, West Brom and Wednesday previously held pre-season camps at SGP.<\/p>\n

        \u201cI\u2019m keen to go back there,\u201d says Cleverley, who is already onto the Watford team secretary about the idea. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of experience of St George\u2019s Park as an international player, as a club player. I\u2019ve played there, done a camp there with Watford, and now, as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

        \u201cWe\u2019re looking at doing the same next year,\u201d says Strudwick of West Brom. \u201cWe wanted to reduce travel time and maximise the training opportunities. We didn\u2019t have to get on early flights, go through airports, we don\u2019t lose training days, we don\u2019t lose match prep days.<\/p>\n

        \u201cWe\u2019ve had two years of St George\u2019s Park and both experiences have been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

        The same works in reverse, with overseas teams such as SL Benfica and AS Monaco enjoying similar benefits in the Staffordshire countryside.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Complete control for clubs<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Not only is there favourable training weather and pitches at SGP (\u201cthe ground staff were putting the sprinklers on at the right times,\u201d says Cleverley), but teams have the full ability to tweak schedules as necessary or make adjustments.<\/p>\n

          Cleverley, for example, split his Watford squad in two midway through their camp in order to play Scottish Premiership side Hibernian in Edinburgh. The fixture was arranged as part of Ryan Porteous\u2019 move from Hibs to Hertfordshire in 2023. \u201cIt was a unique week,\u201d says Cleverley, who was still satisfied with the camp\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n

          A team\u2019s plans are subject to \u201cconstant iteration\u201d in pre-season, as Strudwick explains. He says: \u201cWe\u2019ll have certain priorities that we want to hit, we\u2019ll have certain individual players that need managing, and players coming back into the training process. But I\u2019ve been in football long enough now to understand that the plan you have in early May often changes come mid-July.\u201d<\/p>\n

          He also discusses the challenge of working in an environment where players employ external practitioners, particularly as there is no firm guidance for clubs. In any case, \u201cit means you can\u2019t switch off. You\u2019ve got to be in constant contact with the players and tracking them outside of the season now.\u201d<\/p>\n

          \"\"

          Darnell Furlong of West Bromwich Albion is all smiles in the gym during his club’s pre-season training camp day two at St George’s Park on July 16, 2024. (Photo: Adam Fradgley\/West Bromwich Albion FC via Getty Images)\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

            \n
          1. Behind-closed-doors matches<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            As pre-season focuses continue to evolve from conditioning to game-based, there is an increasing need to test ideas out on the grass in realistic conditions. With this in mind, the facilities at SGP can be primed for behind-closed-doors matches, which West Brom used to their advantage this summer.<\/p>\n

            The Baggies\u2019 first two pre-season friendlies, against Bolton Wanderers and Peterborough United, were held onsite. The team played a further two fixtures behind-closed-doors (versus Blackpool and RCD Mallorca) at their West Bromwich Albion Training Ground.<\/p>\n

            The matches at SGP ticked many performance boxes for Strudwick and his colleagues. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to go into your first game and expose the players to a 70,000 crowd,\u201d he says. \u201cYou still have your referees but it allows you to be more flexible in playing minutes.\u201d This is not just in terms of minutes per player, but reducing half lengths to 30 minutes, or even extending them to 60. \u201cIt gives you a lot more flexibility to nail down what you want from a team perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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