Eventful Monday

Monday a day of rest? Not a chance! The Lilies‘ first full day of training camp in Bad Wörishofen was packed with action.

Two training sessions, a new signing, and a media session with Paul Fernie provided plenty of material for this diary entry. But let’s start at the beginning.

The morning routine was typical for a training camp: breakfast, hop on the bike, and off to the training pitch. The first training session on Monday began as usual with an activation exercise, followed quickly by football drills. Close-quarters play, quick transitions, and vocal coaching. „I’m very satisfied with the drills so far,“ head coach Kohfeldt called out across the pitch – praise that has to be earned.

The intensity remained high throughout the session, which concluded with set pieces followed by counter-attacking situations. This drill was decided by a penalty shootout, after which the winner’s photo was a must.

During the subsequent lunch break, the training camp group gained a new member. Shortly before 4pm, Carlo Sickinger entered the lobby of the Parkhotel. The final missing signature of the new signing from Elversberg was provided a few minutes later, and at 4:35pm the transfer was official. The defensive midfielder’s first stop was the training pitch, where the 28-year-old’s new teammates had been completing their second session of the day since 4pm.

„I’m very happy you’re here. The training camp is the perfect time to join the team and get to know the lads. A very warm welcome,“ Kohfeldt said as he introduced the new signing during the session. Sickinger then completed an individual training session before joining the team tomorrow.

For everyone else, the main part of the afternoon consisted of a hard-fought tournament, in which the spectators were treated to some impressive goals.

Alongside the tournament format, Paul Fernie answered questions from the accompanying journalists in a media session, which mainly revolved around personnel issues in the current transfer window.

A summary of the statements can be found here.

The team will again have two training sessions on the training ground in Bad Wörishofen tomorrow, Tuesday.

At 9am, the Darmstadt 98 squad, consisting of coaches, players, and staff, set off for Bad Wörishofen. In this spa town of nearly 18,000 inhabitants, SV Darmstadt 98 begins the fourth week of their summer preseason training today, Sunday, July 10th.

The eight new signings – Florian Kleinhansl, Noah Weißhaupt, Nicolas Verkooijen, Ibrahim El Kadiri, Lars Kehl, Christopher Lannert, Lance Duijvenstijn, and Yannik Lührs – are also part of the traveling group. These new faces are expected to benefit from the training camp, which is intended to help them integrate into the team more quickly.

Florian Kohfeldt: „The overarching goal is to gel as a group. We’ve had some player turnover in the squad so far, but now we want to start establishing a system of role distribution. We’ll be having many individual discussions; assigning roles is a key focus of the training camp, without, of course, rigidly defining those roles.“

Florian Kohfeldt: „The main objective is for us to gel as a group. At 2pm, the team from southern Hesse arrived at the „Parkhotel“ and immediately went to lunch before checking into their rooms. Shortly before 5pm, the Lilies then got on their bicycles, which they will use to cover the approximately two-kilometre route to the training grounds in the coming days.

Upon arriving at the pitch of FC Bad Wörishofen, the players didn’t need their football boots. Under the guidance of athletic trainer Christopher Busse, the Lilies completed a strength circuit. After about 60 minutes, the first of numerous training sessions awaiting the team in the coming days came to an end. On Saturday (July 25th), the friendly match against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach will mark the sporting conclusion of their time in Bad Wörishofen, before the Lilies travel back to Darmstadt on Sunday morning.

Looking ahead to the coming days, head coach Kohfeldt explained: „Tactically, it’s about pressing transitions. We want to transition more quickly from a deep defensive block to a high press, and conversely, we’ll also practice our withdrawal. To that end, we’ll simulate the opponent’s high press and see how we need to behave in the final third. These are the tactical priorities. Athletically, we’re entering the final phase of full-load training. We’ll train hard most days and then play the match against Großaspach on Saturday with tired legs.“

To conclude the day, the team watched the World Cup final together before all the players retired to their beds in the Allgäu region for the first time. Two training sessions are scheduled for tomorrow, Monday.

Twenty-eight players have traveled to Bad Wörishofen, including youth players Mika Schlosser (U21) and Liam Braun (U19). Sergio Lopez is in talks with a Spanish club about a transfer and is therefore absent from the training camp. Merveille Papela is continuing his rehabilitation in Darmstadt.

Luca Marseiler and Fabian Nürnberger will continue their individual work on their comebacks in Bad Wörishofen. Raoul Petretta will also initially train individually, with full reintegration possible during the week.