Training Camp
06.08.25
Polzin: “We’ll keep growing together as a team”
With an eye toward the upcoming training camp in Mallorca, HSV’s head coach Merlin Polzin revealed his priorities on and off the pitch.
Success is always a puzzle formed of individual pieces, which have to be slotted together to complete the picture. From late March to early April this year, Hamburger SV’s short training camp in Mallorca undoubtedly contributed to the club’s long awaited return to the Bundesliga. It may have seemed unusual for the Rothosen to set up camp on the Balearic island as the season was building to its conclusion, but head coach Merlin Polzin’s training staff, who had already planned the trip by the turn of the year, were proven right by the team’s success. The squad set their sights firmly on the 2. Bundesliga run-in, promptly triumphing 3-0 at Nürnberg, and eventually achieving their big goal. The Rothosen naturally have very fond memories of both their Spanish base as well as RCD Mallorca’s training ground.
Luckily for them, that’s exactly where HSV’s travelling group will kick off the final phase of their ongoing Bundesliga preparations this Wednesday afternoon (6th August). This morning, the Rothosen completed their final training session in Hamburg – allowing for an intense training day without the fatigue of travelling – before spending the rest of the week on Spanish soil at their second training camp of pre-season, including a friendly against the local La Liga side. In Mallorca, the Rothosen hope to apply the final touches before the competitive season begins on the 16th August with the DFB-Pokal first-round tie away at FK Piramens. At the same time, the team are hoping to stir up a special team spirit again, as head coach Polzin explained to journalists, with his focus on the coming days. The 34-year-old spoke in detail about...
…the training ground in Mallorca: We have planned a range of activities, which should mean we’ll keep growing together as a team, with everyone able to play his part even better on and off the pitch. That’s why there will be a lot of group and team activities. We have an optimal training environment at RCD Mallorca, an awesome friendly and activities away from the pitch to provide a welcome distraction.
…the focus when training: Our sessions in the first weeks focused on defence and occasionally on basic structure in the attack. Now, we’ve turned our attention to the moments when we win the ball. Against Freiburg, we had many situations where we defended well, but then in those transitional moments, we lacked any threat going forwards. That’s going to be a priority again, although we don’t have too many sessions available on the pitch. Therefore, we’ll do a lot of tactical and video analysis with the team. We’re not trying to overwhelm the boys with information here, but instead reinforce our playing style and principles.
…team-building activities: A team’s chemistry is formed by shared experiences – and I’m convinced these don’t emerge as much from an organised trip to an outdoor adventure park than if the boys take the initiative and arrange something themselves. The structure and freedom they need for this are available to them in Mallorca. It’s not our intention to be on top of each other all day and exclusively wear HSV gear, but it’s more about the boys growing together and getting to know each other even better. We have few new faces in the squad. Here especially, it helps to not always meet at the training ground.
...the friendly against RCD Mallorca: I’m approaching this friendly exactly like the previous games. We’re competitors and we want to win every game. That is our goal for the result. On the other hand, we also want to make sure we’re executing our ideas. In this regard, we’ve already taken big steps forward, for example, thinking back to the first 70 minutes against Freiburg and our performance without the ball. We train so that we can be ready for each situation. My belief is clear, that we want to measure up to the best. That’s why we choose our friendlies carefully – because this is the standard we will come up against. No-one just needs a 1-0 win in a friendly to be satisfied; rather we want to feel good about our process.
...the preparation up to now: Of course, as head coach, you want to have the whole squad together from day one of pre-season, with no injuries and only good friendlies. In general though, this is far from the reality. There are always demands and challenges, which you never anticipate beforehand. How we communicate internally is important to me – the clarity we have both in regard to potential new signings as well as with the existing squad. The focus right now is on improving the individual elements. We’re on a good path, but at the same time we still have a bit to do. It will definitely help everyone to get to grips with what we’ll face after seven years in the second division. In the Bundesliga, we’re going to be the underdog in every single game. We understand the quality of our squad as well as how the other clubs have developed over the last few years. That remains a challenge.