West Ham United’s Academy of Football have kicked off their pre-season proper with an intense training camp at Loughborough University.
Having built up a base of fitness at Chadwell Heath inside an initial fortnight of being back, the U23s arrived in Leicestershire on Monday morning, with the U18s joining them later on Wednesday.
With that initial work built upon by early-morning gym and swimming pool sessions at the University, Academy players have also taken on a series of double training sessions throughout the week on the Leicestershire grass.
Those sessions have been mostly focused on building up the U23s and U18s' knowledge of the West Ham United footballing philosophy, breaking this down into individual thirds of the pitch.
The U23s squad, which is a youthful group given that a number of the regular side are training with manager David Moyes' players in Scotland, have their first fixture - against Loughborough University - on Saturday afternoon, kicking off at 12pm.
Nevertheless, making use of the top-quality surfaces and facilities available in Loughborough, both squads have included plenty of fresh faces, with recent U23s signings Thierry Nevers and Armstrong Oko-Flex among those working to find their feet in Claret and Blue.
You can watch both squads go through one such training session in the video above!
