If you scroll through social media or flick on the news, you will notice news stories about different sports doing pre-season training and starting trial games. We often see high level athletes starting pre-season training a few months before the season starts for their chosen sport. It is often assumed necessary for high level athletes to optimise performance, but is this something that can be applied to amateur and social sport as well?
Pre-season training is a period of time leading into competition/season where athletes build back into playing. It often begins with fitness (gym and running), then moves into game skills - throwing, shooting, tackling and goals (depending on the sport). Finally, athletes put all the training together into playing games before the season starts. Pre-season training allows you to be both mentally and physically ready for round one.
Pre-season preparation enhances your performance over the season and significantly helps reduce the risk of injury. Your body can prepare and adapt to the higher loads likely to be encountered during the first game. Think about it - an 8-10km run continuously is very different to 8-10km worth of running as stop/start sprints in all directions that you might do in football, soccer or hockey (less in other sports but the same concept applies).
Pre-season also allows you to cement good skills required in your sport including tackling, throwing, sprinting and changing direction. If these skills are of high standard, you can prevent injuries during season (ie. breaking bad habits). Having time before the season can help you identify any niggles, aches or pains you may be carrying over from the previous season, giving you enough time to address them prior to the season starting.
At Good Country Physiotherapy, we have a number of physiotherapists who are passionate about helping you achieve your best sporting outcome. We offer convenient and local appointments where you will receive full assessment of your injury. We also offer injury screening to help with injury prevention. We can provide you with education and home or gym exercise programs. This can include plans around pre-season or starting back into exercise/sport after a break to help you start the season on the right foot!
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