Now that Terry has taken over the training again - I took a quick journey
down to the (old) training ground today to see how things are going.
If the number of rucks, wrestling matches, 'accidental' trips and general
horsing around are anything to go by, it's no wonder half the team are
injured! Seriously though, there seemed to be a fantastic atmosphere amongst
the players - everyone working hard, having a laugh, and gearing each
other up to do better. Great to watch - nice to see that no matter what
happens on or off the pitch hasn't affected their camaraderie in any way.
I was only there a couple of hours - but the training regime consisted
of:
1) Everyone running around in a circle throwing the ball at/to each other. Okay - it probably meant more than that - but to my untrained eye there wasn't any foot or headwork. Probably a warm-up routine.
2) A game involving two teams, four goals, and no goalkeepers. Lots of short passing, Hughes and Damo were very good at it.
3) Two goals, two goalkeepers, players running with the ball doing one-on-one work against Davis, Feuer, Heald and Gore. All timed, with the emphasis on speed as much as on accuracy. Terry worked closely with one group, whilst the other group also had to run in and out of poles stuck in the ground. Kenny was in the second group - and did a lot of the 'egging-on' work to keep up the tempo. One famous midfielder was heard to comment 'I'm not scoring any goals, but I'm very good at the running back bit'.
Everything was timed - with a couple of short breaks in between. There was a big emphasis on 'our group is better than your group' in terms of goals scored/saved etc. - and the players took it very seriously.
Most of the players were there - and although Kimble didn't take part
in any of the training, he was kitted-out, and kicking a ball against
a wall for most of it.
The best bit was at the end - a bus-load of very young kids turned up, got kitted-out and did some training as well. Nice to see there is team ready to take over in 15 years time.
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