Skitty and co have the next six weeks mapped out
The Town players can look forward to a challenging pre-season programme as physio Chris Skitt and his team plan to get them fit.
The planning has been on going for a while as to what happens over the six weeks before the Sky Bet League One season starts with the visit of Northampton Town to Oteley Road.
The players have been working hard over their summer break and Skitty is confident they will all report back in good shape.
“With the support of the management it’s great that we can bring the players in and expect a certain level of fitness”, said Chris.
“We don’t think they have to be as fit as they are on day one, it is a process where we are going to build them up steadily.
“They will be fit this year and they will be physically strong.”
When the players report to the Sundorne Castle training ground on Friday they will be straight into the programme. New training kit will be picked up, new teammates will get to meet each other, the measurements and testing will start and then it will be out onto the training pitch.
“They will be out at it from day one, there will be a lot of testing from day one and a lot of measurement and the baseline stuff taken”, said Chris.
“A big part of it is getting to meet each other and start to get to know each other but we will be at it right from the start.
“There will be training trough the day as well as a little bit of running for them.”
There will be a change of scenery early on in the pre-season programme with a training camp in Portugal. It will give the squad a great chance to get a lot of work done and also to bond.
“As well as the team bonding it is also a chance to get a lot of good quality training into them.
“They will be doing a minimum of three sessions a day so it will be intense and unfortunately for them there won’t be time for sun loungers.
“It is a good opportunity in the warm weather and with the good facilities to get some good solid work into them.
“They are with each other all day and night and they will have to get to know each other.”
Once they return the pre-season games will start to come thick and fast with a trip to Brackley Town on Tuesday 11th July the first game on the schedule. It’s a time when players tend to pick up bumps and scrapes but any blistered will be given short shrift by Skitty.
“As people know I don’t tolerate blisters very kindly and if they’ve got blisters they haven’t looked after their feet or have fancy new boots”, said Chris.
The games adds challenges to it and there is a big part of you that doesn’t want to get any injuries in the pre-season games as it sets the player back.
Hopefully if they have the right base of fitness over the pre-season then the risk of injury is minimised.”