After the intensive first days of training camp, the Bundesliga squad of 1. FC Union Berlin got half a day off today. The players used their hard won time in many different ways.

Running, passing, shooting

With the sun finally shining on them, under the guidance of athletics coach Martin Krüger and co-trainer Sebastian Bönig, the outfield players went to the side pitch after their pre-training prevention session and started with initial running, passing and heading exercises. After a few minutes, they moved across to the main pitch, where they continued to work on combinations, sequences, and interplay in front of the fans present. Head coach Urs Fischer, who is often in the middle of the players during the individual exercises, instead gave loud instructions and targeted pointers. 

School for professionals

In the training camp presented by sonnenschutz.de, the players' work included not only work on the field, but also off it, such as dealing with the media on a daily basis. This includes individual interviews with media representatives, from the club's own channels or media rounds with the assembled press. After today's training session, for example, newcomer David Fofana fielded questions from journalists and faced a crowd of microphones and recording devices.

After lunch, the officials called the team in for an internal media training session, where there was more advice on dealing with media of all kinds. In modern times of social media and sometimes complicated image rights, it is always important for professional footballers to know what can be published, or can not. Vice captain Rani Khedira and striker Kevin Behrens then took part in arranged interviews in which they dealt with various topics, one-to-one with individual media representatives. 

The players spent the rest of the free afternoon in different ways, but mostly they focused on personal regeneration and recharging their batteries.

Quote of the day: "So, I'm off now." After several strong saves in a row, a satisfied Frederik Rönnow finished goalkeeping practice on his own.

The outlook

Tomorrow, Friday, 28.07.20023, the team will play against Pafos FC (16:00). All players who are not part of the matchday squad will have a public training session at 10:30. Any Union fans who cannot be present on site will have the opportunity to follow the games free-to-air on AFTV and Union's Youtube channel.