General
- Friday January 20th, 2012 @ 15:16
DIARY OF A PRE-SEASON FOOTBALLER - WEEK ONE - PART TWO
by Ger O'Brien
After the introduction last week I've been taking a bit of a ripping from the lads.
As I said last time there is nothing better than dressing room banter and as we get to know each other a lot more the slagging is certainly beginning to crank up a notch.
We were given Tuesday off after our introduction to the prowler. I have been getting a lot of texts about this contraption and for anybody that still doesn't know what it is I say drop it in to the Google bar and take a look.
Wednesday
Our kit man brought us in jerseys to try on for size for the season.
Must say I like the new shirt but even better having that crest on it, old school that. Big fitting jerseys though and most will be wearing medium - large and maybe a few smalls except one or two. They know who they are??
The rest on Tuesday was great as it helped us be ready to get back into full flow on Wednesday. Paul Hall our strength and fitness coach has introduced a new kind of warm up to us for the season.
It's different to your usual run up and down a few times stretch and chat for a few minutes then into training. This type of warm up is important for us, not only now, but as the season goes on.
We went into passing drills and possession games. Now you might think why are they doing passing in pre-season, but these drills are sharp and always done with high intensity.
Having worked under Liam before I know exactly the way he wants his teams to play and passing will be of a major importance this year.
Possession drills are always a way of using the balls and getting your hard work in also and with the quality we have in our squad this year it's going to be of a good standard.
We went down to play some small sided games then. We have gotten to play a lot of these games so far and it's something as a player no matter what level you play at you enjoy.
A player who was added to the squad this week absolutely turned on a sixpence and put one right into the top corner.
Now having played with Christopher Forrester last season I know how much potential this lad has. He has two great feet and his ability is frightening. He will be a super addition to our squad.
We finished off Wednesday session with a little bit of work with Trevor for the defenders and the goal keepers.
Already Trevor has us working on the minor details, which is great. Great to get another training session down but rumour had it Paul Hall would be back in again with us Thursday. Not good!!
Thursday
First person I seen when I arrived was Paul Hall. No sign of the prowler though maybe it won't be that bad was our thinking!!!
Again we went through our stretching routine and then Paul told us what he had in store for us.
We split up in to three groups, two stayed with Paul and one went with Dave Campbell. The two groups were doing some sharp running with turning and press ups accelerating and decelerating all involved.
For the lads doing the running it was 40 runs over a 20min period, and the lads with Dave were doing pull ups, press ups and squats with weights constantly for the same time.
Extremely tough that part but as I said previously it's vital we push ourselves hard this time of year as it will stand to us throughout the season.
Next was onto a heading drill with us been split up in to two teams. Yellows v blues.
This was two 5 minute games of constant running and heading. My team, the yellows, won both games but our best player was Kenny Browne. He was a blue!!!!
After you head the ball you need to set up the next player then get in goal to try and stop the other team from scoring but Kenny forgot this part twice.
We went into some crossing and finishing with link up play involved.
This again is something players enjoy and Trevor has such an array of different drills that you're never doing the same drills over and over.
We finished off the session with another small sided game. This time my team didn't win. Blues turned it on to be fair to them. Games have been of a decent standard so far with plenty of hard work.
We are off Friday for a rest day then back in again Saturday and Sunday with a very early start on both days.
It's important you work hard in pre-season but it's also vital we get sufficient rest between sessions. Paul is back with us again Saturday and I've a funny feeling we might see the prowler again…can't wait.
