The coaching staff co-ordinate group training thanks to new technology

Villarreal CF continue to work from home. Yellows players are put through their paces in daily training sessions which last more than two hours, with the aim of staying physically fit ahead of the return to the football pitch, once the current COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Under the supervision and instruction of first team fitness coach Pepe Romero, the Villarreal players are combining specific work and collective sessions, which they carry out in small groups, depending on the physical content of each session. Through a video-calling platform, the Yellows stay in touch and continue, as they would normally, their exercise routines designed by the coaching staff.

After four weeks of working from home, Romero has adapted the sessions to each of the players, slowly giving more focus on specific preparation: “We started with a large common work load for everyone, but as the weeks have gone on, that has gone down and we’re focusing more on individual plans now.”

In permanent contact with the players, Romero supervises and plans minutely the plans of each of them: “We study their shape, how long things are taking, and their evolution to prepare the sessions. The players are aware of the importance of staying fit and they show a lot of willing.”

The group sessions are very diverse. “We do exercises such as spinning or high-intensity interval training, which are very testing. For the players, training together makes it more fun,” says Romero.

Check out the video of a group training session above.