Season 2, Week 1, 2 and 3 – Prepare, Turn Up, Execute.

‘Desire is the key to motivation, but its determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.’ – Mario Andretti

WE ARE BACK!! My sincere apologies that this post has come A LOT later than planned but better late then never.

So Gaffer, what’s new? What’s been going on and what have we missed with C&G?

After completing Season 1, we went off for a three week break to reevaluate, recharge the batteries and to reset. Season 1 was a massive triumph and planning the layout for Season 2, I knew I had to introduce a few things to keep things fresh and dynamic down at pitch side:

(1) To build upon what we’ve learned so far and maintain a high level of performance week in week out.

(2) To play friendly matches so I can really see how far they have come individually as well as collectively as team.

(3) To add new training methods and work on new components that will test and take the players to the next level.

(4) To introduce/recruit new players so there’s a competition for places.

Out of the four listed above, objectives number two and three are high priority in my mind. From Pre Season last year to Season 1, the players have trained extremely well and have developed massively during that time. Although training is the perfect place to learn I wouldn’t completely know where their performance levels were at and whether they really improved until I got them into a competitive match. Having that component is needed, the purpose of training is to become better and to prepare for a particular event or moment.

So we kicked off Season 2 with that at the front of our minds, we started to prepare for our first competitive match against St Leonard’s FC in late April. We had three weeks to physically and mentally switch on to the task in hand, I introduced new subjects to work on during training i.e working on formations, set plays, philosophy/identity of play and lastly specific tactics. Now for most of the players, some of this was foreign to them but they all relished the new tasks I put before them which filled me up with great confidence preparing for the game.

For the past three weeks, the players have been going through their paces and now it’s finally time to see what they can do. I am not fussed about the scores but what do want to see is their heart, desire and work rate accelerate from the first whistle to the final whistle. I’m excited to see how they get on with their future endeavours this season.