Pre-Season Fitness for Grassroots Football: What to Do in the Six Weeks Before Kickoff

Pre-season is the least structured period in grassroots football. Most clubs run two or three sessions before the first league game, some of which are just fitness circuits and a squad discussion about last season. Players arrive at game one undertrained, and injuries cluster in the first four weeks of the season.

A six-week pre-season programme doesn't need to be complicated. It needs to be progressive.

Weeks 1–2: Base Fitness and Technical Refresh

Players are returning from summer with variable fitness levels. Don't start with high-intensity sessions. The objective is to rebuild the aerobic base and re-establish technical habits without injury risk.

Activities: long possession games (7v7 or 9v9, low intensity), ball mastery circuits, passing patterns at 60–70% pace. 45–60 minutes. No sprinting. No competitive small-sided games.

Weeks 3–4: Building Intensity

Introduce interval training with the ball. Sprint activation drills, 90-second high-intensity SSGs with rest periods, pressing drills at 80% intensity. The objective is to build the anaerobic fitness needed for match demands while maintaining the ball.

This is also the right point to introduce new tactical concepts for the season — players are physically present and mentally fresh, and there's no match pressure.

Weeks 5–6: Match Preparation

Friendly matches and full-speed training. Technical work at match pace, set piece rehearsal, competitive SSGs. This is not the time for new concepts — it's the time to consolidate what weeks 1–4 built.

If your club runs pre-season friendlies: treat them as training, not as matches to win. Rotate every player, try different positions, give younger players extended minutes. The information from a well-run friendly is more valuable than the result.

Injury Prevention: The Non-Negotiables

Dynamic warm-ups before every session — not static stretching. Static stretching before activity has been shown to temporarily reduce muscle strength and power; dynamic movement (high knees, lateral shuffles, leg swings) prepares the body without these effects.

Adequate rest between sessions. Adults and older youth need 48 hours between high-intensity sessions. Two back-to-back high-intensity sessions in a week during pre-season is the most common cause of early season injury in grassroots football.