{"id":31060,"date":"2025-08-28T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=31060"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:49:05","slug":"plan-periodize-and-program-how-us-soccer-devises-its-training-camps","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/plan-periodize-and-program-how-us-soccer-devises-its-training-camps\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan, Periodize and Program: How US Soccer Devises its Training Camps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 28 Aug 2025 <\/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

Plan, Periodize and Program: How US Soccer Devises its Training Camps<\/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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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/plan-periodize-and-program-how-us-soccer-devises-its-training-camps\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Patrick Mannix, the federation\u2019s Sports Science Senior Manager, shared his insights with Leaders Performance Institute members at a recent virtual roundtable.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
\u2018Peace-time plans are of no particular value,\u2019 wrote former US President Dwight D Eisenhower in a letter to a US diplomat in 1950, \u2018but peace-time planning is indispensable.\u2019<\/h6>\n

Eisenhower liked the sentiment enough to repeat variations during his time in the White House and the appeal to people working in elite sport is obvious.<\/p>\n

In fact, Patrick Mannix, the Sports Science Senior Manager at US Soccer, began his recent presentation to Leaders Performance Institute members with that very line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea behind this quote is that high-performance teams don\u2019t necessarily have a static plan,\u201d said Mannix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan is constantly evolving as new information comes to light, whether that\u2019s in relation to the tournament that we\u2019re playing in, the players that we\u2019re working with, and a variety of other contexts that are relevant to the world of international soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n

With those words, Mannix set the scene for a discussion that centered on performance planning in the international game, specifically the development of camp training plans for players who join up from their respective clubs in the US and beyond.<\/p>\n

First, he offered a summary:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mannix then shared how he and his colleagues approach international training camps from a sports science and medicine perspective with the help of this cycle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding rapport and trust with those clubs is massively important,\u201d said Mannix, \u201cbecause that helps us drive a lot of the exchange of information.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then outlined the common challenges he and his team face in the realms of communication, health & safety and load management:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In explaining how they meet those challenges, Mannix focused on three areas in particular:<\/p>\n

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  1. Club and country alignment<\/li>\n
  2. The time of year<\/li>\n
  3. Camp objectives<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Club and country alignment<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The US national teams draw on players from across the globe and, even for matches in the US itself, such is the size of the country that most personnel will have made a long-haul journey.<\/p>\n

    This map, which depicts the travel schedule of the US men\u2019s team during the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, provides some idea of the challenges present even in a domestic setting:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \u201cWe need to know when our equipment and staff are arriving and where our players are coming from,\u201d said Mannix in reflection on this map. It calls for close collaboration between the technical\/coaching staff, the high performance team and the operations team.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWhen a coach is trying to build out the session plan, the right hand is a good sports scientist or a performance coach, and the left hand is the first assistant, and those three individuals are working very closely to ensure that there\u2019s a good plan in place for every training session,\u201d Mannix continued.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThere\u2019s good understanding as to what the availability of the players is going to be, particularly in the first two days of training, because what we\u2019ve found through communication with clubs is we sometimes have to be flexible when players are coming into our environment simply because although Europe observes FIFA windows, we have to work with our partners in MLS on when players are released to come and join our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Mannix and his colleagues understand the range of fixed and dynamic constraints they face. They use that understanding to find optimization indicators.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    2. <\/em>Time of year<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The leagues of North America operate on a different seasonal calendar to their European counterparts, which requires tailored approaches to preparation and recovery for each player.<\/p>\n

    Staggered arrivals in camp is a prime example. Players may be excluded from certain match days depending on their status.<\/p>\n

    Additionally, the federation will try to use domestic camps \u201cto address the identity of the team\u201d and \u201chybrid camps where we look to go abroad, ideally to play opponents from Africa, Asia, and Europe so we get a variety of different opponents of the kind that we could potentially face in a World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Travel logistics are a focus too. \u201cWe try to increase our sleep and recovery opportunities, decrease the number of flights to hopefully avoid a situation where the players have to get up at the crack of dawn to hop on a plane,\u201d said Mannix.<\/p>\n

    Then there are cultural considerations. \u201cThe November window for the women’s national team will overlap with the Thanksgiving holiday,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cwe\u2019re working with chefs to ensure that we can put together a really creative Thanksgiving meal so the team feel like they have that communal or family experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Ultimately, when it comes to periodizing camps, US teams have eight time scales to consider:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    These come with several potential challenges:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Mannix shared the example of a convalescing player joining the men\u2019s national team for the 2024 Olympic football tournament. \u201cIn close collaboration with the club, we mapped out the tissue healing process, what the rehab was going to look like and then also what his reintegration into his team training back in his club environment would be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThen we had to negotiate if he were to join us in the Olympics what his match exposure would look like once he joined us, because his first time competing in official competition following the injury would be under our care. So it was super important for US Soccer that this individual was included in the roster because of his long-term trajectory within the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    1. Camp objectives<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The coaches and support staff at US Soccer develop training plans three weeks prior to a camp, with session plans devised two weeks out once player arrival times are confirmed.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWe will design things from a team level, but then we also have to look at matters very closely at an individual level when we\u2019re trying to safely integrate players into our national team environments.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Mannix also spoke of periodization (the macro-level planning of when and why) and programming (the micro-level execution of what and how). He explained the distinction using the following table:<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

      \u201cMost of the time, we are dealing with tapering strategies and figuring out how can we optimize players\u2019 readiness going into competition,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s often an exercise in fatigue management when they\u2019re coming into our environment and not necessarily trying to drive fitness adaptations, but, on the flip side, we\u2019re also there to potentially facilitate a lot of those long-term physiological adaptations that are occurring.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWhen it comes to planning, some of these training variables are super important. Things like training frequency, density, volume, and intensity, ensuring that those are squared away and, with our coaching staff, exercise order. So when it comes to building out session plans, making sure that the sessions are sequenced in the correct fashion.<\/p>\n

      \u201cAgain, I think that\u2019s a lot of close communication and collaboration with primarily our head coach and our first assistant.\u201d<\/p>\n

      What to read next<\/strong><\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

      Transparency, Empathy and Empowerment: Five Ways Teams Are Serving their People in 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n