How to Structure a 6-Week Handball Preseason

By Iván Pico Martínez · 2026

Six weeks is typical for most amateur and semi-professional handball categories between the start of training and the first official match. That's no time to improvise week by week — each block needs a clear goal before moving to the next, because the physical base determines what you can demand tactically afterward.

Weeks 1-2: physical base and readaptation

The most common preseason mistake is demanding competition-level intensity before the team has the aerobic base or contact tolerance it needs — that's the direct route to injuries by week 3. The first two weeks should prioritize moderate volume, general strength work (especially lower body and core, key in handball because of direction changes and jumping) and a gradual reintroduction of physical contact — not avoided entirely, but dosed. The I-PROTECT programme, developed specifically for youth handball, stresses that these preventive exercises work best when integrated into ball training itself, rather than as a separate block the team perceives as an unwelcome add-on.^[1]

Technically, this phase is a good moment to review individual fundamentals without result pressure: dribbling, passing, receiving, shooting technique — with short sets and a focus on execution quality, not repetition volume.

Weeks 3-4: bringing in collective tactics

With the physical base already in place, this is the moment to introduce or refresh the main defensive system (usually 6:0 at youth level, though every club has its own progression) and the basic offensive combinations: block and continuation, crosses, the pivot's role. Physical load stays high but with more specific work — circuits that combine endurance with decision-making, not just continuous running.

This is where it pays off to start recording which concepts have actually been trained with each player, not just what's been "explained" generically to the group — the gap between planning a concept and confirming it's genuinely been trained is where most season tracking falls apart.

Weeks 5-6: competition intensity and first friendlies

The last two weeks should move closer to real match pace: shorter, more explosive sets, work on numerical overloads and underloads, and at least one full friendly before the first official match. It's also the moment to define concrete roles — who takes the 7-metre throws, who leads the defensive retreat — instead of leaving it to be improvised in the first match that counts.

Week-by-week summary