Training camp is officially underway for the 2012-13 Georgia State women's soccer team.

The start of August signaled the return of players to Georgia State's campus and reporting for camp. Wednesday, the first official day, was filled with players meeting one another and the new coaching staff, conducting physicals and distributing equipment.

Thursday begins two-a-days for the team, which will continue every day until Aug. 8. Session number one each day takes place at 9 a.m., followed by the second session at 4 p.m. On Thursday, players are expected to have a mile test to show off their fitness to head coach Derek Leader, who was appointed to the position in January.

On Friday, Aug. 3, the players will participate in a beep test. A beep test is an aerobic fitness test where players have to run specified intervals in part to recorded beeps.

“In the offseason, players knew what our expectations were,” Leader said. “These tests will tell us if they put in the hard work and dedication on their own time over the summer. Camp will really let us know where our girls are fitness-wise.”

Leader continued on, explaining his training and how it was broken into three phases. The first phase is individual – players focused on their own skill work and do 1v1 attack and defense. On Aug. 5, individual work is phased to small group work. In this phase, four members per group work on possession and the speed of play. On Aug. 7, the team will switch to large group work. Here the team will work on tactics and get ready for their opening match versus Samford on Aug. 10.

On Aug. 8, players will get a bit of a break from training to listen and learn from Steve Shenbaum, the founder of game on. Game on's goals are to help others, be it players, coaches, or corporations, to better communicate, provide leadership, improve character development and implement media training. Shenbaum has a long list of clients that includes the New York Yankess, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the NFLPA Rookie Symposium and the U.S. Olympic women's soccer team, among various individual athletes as well.

“We're very excited to have Steven Shenbaum come to speak to our team,” Leader said. “He is an expert in his field and has worked with many highly regarded teams and players, so it is an honor he will be speaking to us. I'm looking forward to him interacting with our girls and giving us a strong foundation to start our season on.”

Georgia State will kickoff its season Aug. 10 in an exhibition game at Samford. One week later, the Panthers will open their non-conference schedule at reigning SEC tournament champions Auburn at 7 p.m.