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Football Titan Performance Analysis

Titan Essentials Episode 1: Preparing for Pre-Season

21 May 2026
3 min Read

One word defines pre-season: Exposure. Here’s how to use Titan to gradually build the fitness base your squad needs to last the season.

Pre-season is the most physically demanding phase of the football year — and the one that sets the tone for everything that follows. 

In episode two of Titan Essentials: Soccer, Hudl Solutions Consultant Felicia Medalla-Kennedy breaks down how to use GPS data to build a fitness foundation that lasts all the way to your final match. 

Watch the video below, then use the guide that follows to pull out the key points and put them into practice.

The Pre-Season Principle: Exposure

If you had to sum up pre-season in a single word, it's this: Exposure.

This is the ‘preparation phase’. The goal here isn't to peak before the season has started — it's to gradually expose your players to the physical demands of competition so their bodies are ready for the grind ahead. Volume is at its highest point of the year, and intensity is at its lowest. That's intentional.

As pre-season progresses, that relationship shifts. Volume scales back, intensity ramps up, and by the time your opening fixture arrives, your players should be physically sharp and ready to hit the ground running.

Don't just review what your players did — use the data to shape what comes next Felicia Medalla-Kennedy - Customer Solutions Consultant, Hudl

The Power of Establishing Positional Benchmarks

Different positions require entirely different physical attributes — and your data should reflect that. So one of the most valuable things you can do in pre-season is establish clear benchmarks for each position in your squad.

Midfielders tend to cover higher total distances, forwards often produce highest intensity sprints, while defenders' outputs shift depending on your tactical setup.

By setting these positional benchmarks now, you can use last year’s numbers to create an objective reference point for the entire upcoming season. You'll know exactly what physical targets each player needs to hit — and you'll be able to make squad selection decisions based on data rather than instinct.

How Titan Can Help

Titan is Hudl’s accessible, professional-grade athlete tracking solution – helping coaches at every level easily transform GPS data into visual, intuitive feedback. Here are four ways it can help prepare you for pre-season:

  1. Ditch the Beep Test

Traditional fitness testing pulls players away from the ball and gives you one data point on one day. With Titan, your session is the test. Use the Drill Database to select drills that naturally hit your target speeds and distances — and track improvement over weeks of exposure instead.

  1. Make Every Drill Count

Not all drills deliver the same physical output. The Titan Drill Database lets you plan sessions with a specific goal in mind. If a drill isn't producing the volume or intensity you need, small tweaks — pitch size, player numbers, work-to-rest ratios — can make a significant difference without changing the technical focus.

  1. Turn Last Season's Data Into This Season's Plan

By syncing GPS data with game footage, you can identify Peak Periods — the one-to-five-minute windows of maximum intensity in a match. If your team struggled physically in the final ten minutes last season, your data will show you exactly what intensity to expose players to now to bridge that gap.

  1. Coach Forward, Not Backward

    Pre-season data shouldn't just tell you what happened — it should shape what comes next. If Tuesday's session ran heavier than planned, Titan gives you the insight to ease off on Wednesday and make sure players aren't carrying unnecessary fatigue into the next session.

Learn more about how Titan can motivate athletes, optimize performance, and give you a recruiting edge.

Browse more articles in Titan Essentials: Soccer View the series