Year 8 and 9 Pre-Season Football Training Camp

On the 17^th, 18^th & 19^th of August, footballers from the Year 8 & 9 football teams were invited to attend a pre-season football training camp. Many of the squads players took this opportunity to better themselves, working hard each day and seemingly enjoying it all along the way.

They engaged in fitness training each morning, a skills/tactical analysis session in the middle of the day and then an afternoon on offsite pitches where the pupils could practise positional/tactical/set-piece play.

Each morning, the boys were tasked with taking on fitness drills suggested for pre-season football practise by the Scottish Football Association. Interval training, skills based fitness and relays were all used to challenge the pupils. It was great to see such a positive approach from the players on arguably the hardest part of each day.

The skills and tactical analysis sessions took place in the middle of the day. A session which stood out was the tactical analysis classroom based activity, that took place on the Thursday and stretched the pupils to think more deeply about the ways in which you can press the ball in football and quickly transition from defence to attack. Mr Lloyd, who led this session, had high praise for the young aspiring footballers after this task.

On the final day of camp, a games-based approach was adopted – other than for the morning fitness – whereby, the pupils played in a football tennis tournament in the middle of the day and then had an opportunity to put the few days of learning into practise in an afternoon competitive match between the Year 8s and 9s. Tactically, it was obvious both teams play off-the-ball had immeasurably improved. Some well worked set pieces also made for fantastic viewing.

Great work to all those that attended!