Morning Routine & Mammoth Workout

Morning routine. Anyone searching for this term on various social media platforms is bombarded with countless videos showcasing the perfect start to the day. Yet, morning routines vary widely from person to person. Some need more sleep, others less; some enjoy a hearty breakfast, while a single cup of coffee suffices for others. For these reasons, breakfast times for the „Lilien“ at their training camp are kept quite flexible. While lunch and dinner take place at fixed times for the entire squad, the first meal of the day can be eaten within a specific time window. The only requirement: everyone must finish breakfast between 7:30am and 9:00am.

This gave the social media admin a good reason to lie in wait outside the breakfast room. Shortly after 7:30am, Yosuke Furukawa and Hiroki Akiyama entered the room, followed soon after by Patric Pfeiffer and Raoul Petratta. One noticeable pattern is that players always eat with their roommates, meaning breakfast times are also a matter of compromise. The players‘ plates vary significantly, too. The juicer runs constantly, and many swear by omelets or other egg dishes, though colorful fruit platters and classic cheese sandwiches are also common choices.

No one runs the risk of missing the 9:00am cutoff; every „Lilie“ has set foot in the dining hall by 8:30am at the latest. The stage is set for an athletic start to the day. To ensure their minds fully wake up as well, the first training session began with a competitive cognitive exercise.

The rest of the morning was dominated by game-based drills specifically designed to hone the transition play of the now wide-awake Lilien—though at that point, they likely had no inkling of the gruelling schedule awaiting them in the afternoon.

The afternoon session—the fifth overall during the team’s stay in Bad Wörishofen—lasted a full two hours. An initial athletic workout was followed by extensive sprint drills before the ball was finally brought into play. Positional drills and a lengthy 11-a-side match ensured high intensity, but the finale demanded everything the players had left: line runs—and lots of them.

On this Tuesday, the players had to dig deep and push themselves to their limits. They did so with flying colours. Hats off, men. And good night!

Monday a day for taking it easy? Think again! The Lilien’s first full day at their training camp in Bad Wörishofen was absolutely packed.

Two training sessions, a new signing, and a media briefing with Paul Fernie provided plenty of material for the daily log. But let’s take things in order.

The morning routine was typical for a training camp: breakfast, hopping on bikes, and heading to the training pitch. Monday’s first session began—as usual—with activation exercises before quickly moving on to ball work. There were tight-space drills, rapid transitions, and vocal coaching. „I’m very pleased with the rounds so far,“ Head Coach Kohfeldt shouted across the pitch—praise that has to be earned.

The intensity remained high throughout the session, which concluded with set-piece drills followed by transition scenarios. The exercise was ultimately decided by a penalty shootout, after which—naturally—a photo of the winning team was a must.

The training camp contingent grew during the subsequent lunch break. Shortly before 4pm, Carlo Sickinger entered the lobby of the „Parkhotel.“ The new arrival from Elversberg provided the final missing signature just minutes later, and the transfer was made official at 4:35. The defensive midfielder headed straight for the training pitch, where his new teammates—the 28-year-old included—had been working through their second session of the day since 4pm.

„I’m very glad you’re here. The training camp is the perfect time to join the group and get to know the lads. A very warm welcome.“ With these words, Kohfeldt introduced the new signing to the squad during the session; Sickinger then completed an individual workout before joining full team training tomorrow.

For the rest of the squad, the main part of the afternoon consisted of a fiercely contested tournament-style drill, during which onlookers were treated to some fine goals.

At the same time, Paul Fernie answered questions from the traveling journalists during a media briefing, focusing primarily on personnel matters regarding the current transfer window. You can find a summary of the statements here.

The team can once again expect two sessions on the training pitch in Bad Wörishofen tomorrow, Tuesday.

At 9am, the „Lilies“ traveling party—comprising the coaching staff, players, and support team—set off for Bad Wörishofen. For SV 98, this Sunday (July 10th) marks the start of the fourth week of summer pre-season training in this Kneipp spa town of just under 18,000 residents.

The group also includes the eight new signings made so far: Florian Kleinhansl, Noah Weißhaupt, Nicolas Verkooijen, Ibrahim El Kadiri, Lars Kehl, Christopher Lannert, Lance Duijvenstijn, and Yannik Lührs. The training camp is intended to help these new faces settle into the team even more quickly.

Florian Kohfeldt: „The overarching goal is for us to gel as a group. We’ve had some squad turnover so far, but now we want to start defining roles. We’ll be holding plenty of one-on-one conversations; assigning roles is a key focus of the training camp—though without setting those roles in stone just yet.“

The South Hessian team arrived at the „Parkhotel“ at 2pm and headed straight for lunch before checking into their rooms. Shortly before 5pm, the Lilies then got on the bicycles they will use over the coming days to cover the roughly two-kilometre journey to the training pitches.

Upon arriving at the FC Bad Wörishofen pitch, however, the players had no need for their football boots. Under the guidance of fitness coach Christopher Busse, the „Lilies“ completed a strength circuit. After around 60 minutes, the first of many sessions awaiting the team over the coming days came to an end. On Saturday (July 25th), a friendly match against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach will mark the sporting conclusion of their time in Bad Wörishofen, before the team travels back to Darmstadt on Sunday morning.

Looking ahead to the coming days, head coach Kohfeldt explained: „Tactically, the focus is on pressing transitions. We want to shift more quickly from a deep defensive block into a high press, and conversely, practice our defensive recovery. To this end, we will simulate the opponent’s high pressing and examine how we need to position ourselves in the final third. Those are the tactical priorities. In terms of fitness, we are entering the final phase of maximum workload. We will train hard on most days and then play the match against Großaspach on Saturday with tired legs.“

To wrap up the day, the squad will watch the World Cup final together before heading to bed for the first time at their Allgäu base. Two training sessions are scheduled for tomorrow, Monday.

Twenty-eight players made the trip to Bad Wörishofen, including youth players Mika Schlosser (U21) and Liam Braun (U19). Sergio Lopez is currently in talks with a Spanish club regarding 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 working individually on their comebacks in Bad Wörishofen. Raoul Petretta will also train individually at first, though full integration into team training is possible later in the week.