A day at the Bayer 04 Women's training camp

The team were based at the Sporthotel Lindner in Westerburg from 17 to 23 August for the second year in succession during the pre-season. "The training pitch is just round the corner, three minutes away on foot. The facilities are brilliant," said Jessica Wich. There were up to three training sessions a day – and every morning at seven o'clock there was a five-kilometre run around Wiesensee. "The atmosphere in the team was good and everybody was in a good mood. After a couple of days there were also heavy legs…," added Wich. "The sessions at the training camp are definitely more strenuous. We reached our physical limits – but that's the point of the pre-season."

Assistant coach Jacqueline Dünker also drew a positive conclusion: “We've learned that there is a lot to get out of our players at a training camp. That's why we've used the time we had available – so one session was longer than planned," revealed the 34-year-old. "In addition, we were also able to sit down with the players to discuss tactical things for example, which we don't have the time for in a week of normal training sessions."

The main intention for the coaching staff in the pre-season is to bring the players together as a unit. This summer has seen the Werkself Women's squad strengthened with the addition of eight new signings and three players coming through from the youth ranks. "As we have so many new signings it was important to us that the girls had time off to get to know each other. We slightly adjusted the coaching plan – but we also had three more days at the training camp compared with last year," said Dünker. Wich added: "Our new signings introduced themselves with a little song and show routine and that was very funny. They've all got different characters. They immediately fitted in with the team and I think they felt well received."

Further impressions of the training camp are available in the video above.