I know more boys are playing computer games now but in general I think boys tend to lead a more active lifestyle than girls. This is especially true over the summer holidays, which is when your pre-season will start.

When you get the girls back at the start of pre-season, the last time a lot of them will have played any sport was in school. During the holidays they will have been staying up late, getting up late, snacking more and spending more time watching the TV, or on the internet. This shows a lot during pre-season, as your players will be nowhere near the fitness levels they were at the end of the season just gone.

This is why I think a well thought out structured fitness regime is needed for pre-season, more than ball skills and drills are. In local girls' football, I believe that sometimes fitness and strength are more important than actual ball skills and tactical awareness because if you are fitter and stronger than your opposition, you always stand a good chance of getting the points out of a game.

A lot of young girls will hate doing fitness work, so its up to the coach to make it fun and something the players want to do. Just getting your players running laps is not a fitness plan and something which shouldn’t be done with kids in the modern age. Your players may complain about doing fitness stuff during pre-season but they will thank you for it when the season starts.

Encourage your players to work on their ball skills outside of training because if you only see your players once a week, you can’t afford not to do fitness with them every week. The way to build fitness is to keep the timing consistent, whether your training is weekly or daily you can’t afford to miss a session of fitness out, just because your players want to play a game instead.