Fabio Ripert, historic athletic trainer of Simone Inzaghi with whom he won 10 trophies, gave an interview to Sportweek from Austria, where he is preparing Al-Hilal for the new season. The newspaper dedicated a report to summer training camps, asking Ripert where it is preferable to hold them: in the mountains according to tradition or in the teams’ sports centers.

“We need to dispel a common myth: two weeks in the mountains, where the temperature is lower and there might be wind, add nothing to physical endurance,” explained the trainer. “To achieve significant results, comparable to a preparation where running and stamina really make a difference, you would need to go to places over 1,500 meters and stay there for at least a month and a half. Going to the mountains, or generally to a place different from the headquarters, helps you to mentally disconnect, to relax, to bond as a group in the evening playing cards or billiards.”

Ripert admitted that players prefer to work in familiar facilities. “At the headquarters you have everything you use during the year. When you go elsewhere you have to adapt to the center you find. Moreover, the players have the chance to go home and be with their families,” he added. “The old training camp, the one with weeks of isolation, is over. The mentality has changed. If the mountains break the routine, the training camp at the sports center helps you stay closer to your family. The difference is all mental, because if we talk about performance, very little actually changes.”

The working method adopted with Inzaghi has always been based on moderation: “We have always had a softer approach, without pushing too hard with workloads and without exhausting the players with grueling sessions. We have to get all 25 of them to be at one hundred percent for the first match of the season.”

The trainer then revealed a personal memory linked to Inter. “In the summer of 2023 with Inter we went on tour in Japan for a week, between Tokyo and Osaka. At the end of the year we won the Scudetto of the second star. I am still convinced that the magic of that season was created right there, building relationships with the players, talking among ourselves, playing cards, joking, laughing. And we were ten thousand kilometers from home,” he recounted. “I remember we talked about life, not football, talking about our families. An incredible chemistry was created.”

Ripert also mentioned another example dating back to 2014, when with Lazio’s Primavera he went to Corato, in Puglia, about twenty minutes from the sea. “Even there it was a triumph: at the end of the season we won the Primavera Italian Cup in the final against Roma, at the Olimpico,” he recalled. “There is no winning recipe, only a subjective thought. With Inzaghi we tried everything, but we felt good in every circumstance.”

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