Under-18s enjoy a productive first week of pre-season training
Shrewsbury Town’s Academy Manager Eric Ramsay is pleased with the way the Under-18s have started their pre-season programme.
Training got underway midway through last week with the first pre-season friendly taking place on the 10th July (Loughborough University Away).
“It’s been hard, as you’d expect, but we’ve managed to do a good combination of on pitch work, some traditional conditioning work, some work in the gym, and some work in the classroom from an analysis perspective”, explained Eric.
“The days are long and they are intense, but it’s a really good introduction to full-time football for the first years and I’m hoping that we’ve made some really good strides even though we’ve been in for just under a week now.
“It’s been very work heavy and very intense, but that’s to be expected, and I think if this group is to achieve some of the things that we hope they can achieve over the next year then they need to work really hard and they need to be really clear on how we want them to play and what the standards are.”
Eric is putting greater emphasis on fitness this summer, but believes there needs to be a balance between physical exercise and ball work.
“From a conditioning point of view we’re not too dissimilar from what the first-team’s looks like and the programme that was delivered last season”, said Ramsay.
“I think it’s important that our players are capable of doing the type of conditioning work that is expected of them at first-team level, because any of them could be in that environment for a session or a week, so to be accustomed to that is important.
“I’m not one for pre-season being solely about running. Running and fitness stuff is good more so from a mental point of view because players have to be gritty, resilient and really have to dig in, but I think the football is the priority, so everyday so far has been football heavy.”