The men’s first team coach, Dean Gordon, told us that for the last three months the team’s staff had focused their attention on making sure that the players stay fit, with individual training programmes, mental health workshops and nutrition guidance using ‘a lot of online work.’
With a lot of the boys from last seasons unbeaten side graduating and going different ways in their career, coach Gordon is excited and ready to rebuild and start again, “I’m happy, I’m confident, I’m looking forward to seeing the new players… we have got a group of new players and new coaches coming on board.”
Rebuild
Eighteen new players to be exact and with a rebuild comes some changes, Ryan Gordon explained, “I’m going to be focusing a lot on the emotional intelligence side and looking at their (the players) personal development as well as their professional development.”
As for the first few training sessions coach Gordon expresses the importance behind creating a strong togetherness within the squad. “Just focusing for (the) first month or two on team building, it’s just going to help us understand kind of what I want, and for me to understand what the player need… looking at how to prepare the boys back for football.”
However, with training set to start things will look and feel different around the training ground. COVID precautions still have to be taken and as assured by Gordon the team is prepared to strive for a safe environment on and off the pitch, explaining that they have to follow the Government guidelines as well as the FA rulings.
Safe
“The guys have obviously got to bring their own masks but then as well in training we will respect the two-meter distances… really it’s just about giving them (the players) a sense of knowing that they will be safe and in an environment that they can play in and just love the game again.”
With the mood around the team sure to be a little hesitant before the first few training sessions, Ryan said he himself has no worries. “Not at all, we have carried out risk assessments, we have got the right procedures in place to make sure that the players safety comes first, and their well-being comes first.”
To finish off we asked about some stand out individuals or names to look forward to watching in action, the reply was simple and what we expected from the coach. “I don’t really want to single out individual players, I really want to focus on just the team…individuals progress, teams win or lose.”
