Training a player during the transition from youth football to the pro level

Pre-season is a period for training and building solid foundations of physical qualities for the competitive season, ensuring that players can consistently perform at an optimal level throughout the season. More so than other players, a U18's preseason is carefully designed and modified, as there are additional considerations that will affect your decision making and planning: maturation, training age, on-field conditioning, strength and power capacities in the gym, and — most importantly — the fact that these are part time footballers transitioning to an full time environment.  Taking these f...