The Dunfermline squad have returned to work to face the prospect of gruelling pre-season training sessions.
Whilst Friday’s first day back involved more testing than training, the Pars players – like those up and down the country – know it is a necessary evil at this time of the year.
Long gone are the days when players might come back from their summer holidays out of shape.
The fear in the past was the prospect of nauseous long runs and no sign of a ball for days on end.
Instead, the build-up to the new campaign in the modern era is meticulously planned with the aid of sports science and individually tailored to each player’s needs.
East End Park senior sports scientist Euan Donaldson would have been the dreaded figure overseeing everything on day one.
Pre-season plan
Dunfermline’s wider pre-season plan, though, is one drawn up for manager James McPake by his former sports scientist at Coventry.
Andy O’Boyle has since worked as first-team fitness coach and head of fitness elite development at Liverpool and as the England under-21s’ physical performance coach.
He is now deputy football director at Man United, where he moved in 2022 after a spell as head of elite performance at the Premier League.
“Andy is someone who has worked with Brendan Rodgers, Jurgen Klopp and Gareth Southgate,” said McPake. “That’s not name-dropping, that’s just facts.
“He put the whole pre-season together for me. But it’s been tweaked from the first time I did it with the under-18s at Dundee because obviously everything evolves.”
So, what does a first day of pre-season look like for the Dunfermline players?
The tests
Split into two groups, the squad spent Friday morning with the sports science and medical departments in testing.
Hamstring strength, groin strength, mobility, balance, power output, and jumping off both feet and off a single leg are all tested and recorded.
Body fat is measured and height and weight taken. “It’s effectively a medical,” explains McPake.
Then comes the exhausting running test, which helps measure aerobic, cardiovascular fitness and their oxygen uptake.
The players were all assessed close to the end of last season. So the club have a benchmark for the results a couple of months down the line.
But they were told to take around two weeks of complete rest once the campaign ended. Then it was time to get stuck into individualised fitness plans.
Results
“It’s not to beat them with a stick if some of them aren’t at the right levels,” adds McPake.
“It’s so we can safely get them to those levels over the next ten, 11 days with gym work and pitch work and building their minutes up in games.”
Finally, towards the end of the first day, the balls came out for some light drills down at the club’s new bespoke training ground at Rosyth.
Day two, on Saturday, is when the more ‘normal’ sessions start as the Fifers kick-start their build-up to their first Premier Sports Cup tie against The Spartans on July 13.
So many key players ended up on the treatment table at Dunfermline last term.
McPake added: “With our injury record last season, we need to be spot on with this pre-season.”
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