The women of 1. FC Union Berlin returned home yesterday (Tuesday), bringing an end to their intensive six day training camp in Spain.  It had all been worth it said head coach Ailien Poese.

"It was a complete success. We had good weather, the Spanish sun released a lot of energy and we got a lot done. We are returning to the German winter in good spirits."

Intensive training sessions on Sunday and Monday

The last two regular days of the training camp were just as busy as those that preceeded them with two more training sessions on Sunday's agenda, while also giving consideration to the players need for regeneration. While the first training session in the morning focused on set-pieces, the team was then divided into four groups in the afternoon to control the load. Some players did a regenerative session on the grass, others rode their bikes. All players went to the video analysis in teams of two and were also treated by the physiotherapists.

Above all video analysis came to the fore. Since November, Felix Kaminski has been the team's official video analyst and he had also compiled numerous individual scenes for the players during the training camp.

On the last day, there were two more sessions. In the morning, they continued work on their attacking, as Poese explained,

"We mainly worked on our build-up play and on finding solutions against opponents sitting deep, as well as against teams that press higher up.

Then, finally, in the afternoon to signal the end of the hard work, they could cut loose a little as the team played against the staff (coached by Pauline Wimmer and Latoya Bach) in a final training game. Although the players came out on top in the end, Kaminski managed to score a consolation goal after an assist from physiotherapist Nico Haase. 

The last evening in Spain was rounded off with a get-together. After six heavy days, both the coaching team and the players could fully relax, having laid the foundations for what will hopefully be a successful second half of the season. 

Departure on Tuesday

After breakfast on Tuesday, the team set off for Valencia airport. Via a stopover in Frankfurt, they arrived back at the stadium An der Alten Försterei in the evening.

"It was really important to have the entire team together for several days," said Poese, back home at last. "That we were able to take all the players with us - apart from the injured Luca Scheel - was the best thing that we could have done." 

Captain Lisa Heiseler was also positive about the time spent in Enguera: "After the five days, we all have somewhat heavy legs, but we have achieved a lot. We have grown closer together as a team and will be able to take a lot with us. On the pitch, we picked up on some things from the first half of the season, consolidated and improved upon them. We also had a lot of tactical discussions."

Outlook

The preparation for the second half of Union's Regionalliga Nordost season carries on, even though the camp is over, with fourfriendlies scheduled before the home game on Saturday, 18 February against league-leaders Viktoria Berlin.

The first of these is this coming Sunday, 22 January 2023, against second-division team Carl Zeiss Jena. Kick-off at Dörpfeldstraße is at 2 pm. Admission is free.