NEWS - SEPTEMBER: THE ACADEMY GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS

The FDS Academy boys have been back to the pitches for a month and a half and it is amazing what you can fit in during such a space of time.

From July 31st the Academy players spent 2 days each week at Grendon Hall, camping on the Thursday night with a mix of training and matches meaning the boys have already through the month of August spent a considerable time with the coaches, which is the basic principle of achieving an elite level.

For some players the five week programme would have been reduced by holidays, however on the main most players came to 2/3 of the training camps and for the odd few they were able to come to all five weeks, which is 10 days spent living the life of a football player.

The best thing about the camping was that each week was different, with the Weather,the group and individual work always different from one week to the next. One thing is for sure the camping has helped get the players into a well disciplined frame of mind and the coaches can see that the normal period of settling in during September has already taken place and from the traditional start point of the season, we are a few months ahead of schedule especially in terms of the understanding the players are showing to their work.

Resiliance has also been a key factor to the positives to take from the summer programme, as the boys have constantly had to adjust to new situations and the flexibility in thought is a key skill they can take forward from the camping and is a very useful skill to have both on and off the pitch.

The summer period also saw the boys play a number of fixtures, with different squads playing MK Don's, Cambridge United and going up to WBA for some fixtures. It was also very pleasing to see a number of players go up to train with the WBA Academy and the complimentary feedback to the players ability and character was very much appreciated.

Moving into September the fixtures have continued with games vrs Boston United and Histon. The pleasing start to this season is hopefully the catalyst to what we hope will be another fantastic season for the FDS Academy as we work hard to strive for the excellence we expect of the programme.