As the 2009/10 season rapidly approaches I wanted to share a few thoughts with our players.
We have a strong club bursting with youth and volunteers and it is therefore important that we continue at 1st XI level to progress as a squad in order to ensure our club continues to thrive.
All of those players being considered for 1st XI this year know already the huge emphasis I have put on improvement in core strength, speed and overall fitness levels as I firmly believe that the introduction of auto-pass immeasurably increases the required fitness levels in order to aspire to compete at the top of senior 1.
I sincerely hope that all 1st XI players have adhered to their summer conditioning programme in order to indicate their commitment to playing at a higher level.
The introduction of auto-pass at all levels of the game is a fantastic development but challenging to both me as a coach and to the players in order to fully embrace the changes in tactics and ‘awareness’ required to use the new rules in a positive and constructive manner.
My priorities last season were to win the Linden cup and develop better defensive systems in order to allow us to compete against the best teams in our league. Both of these we achieved.
This year our priorities must be to continue our defensive development, embrace auto-pass to our advantage via improved fitness, understanding and special awareness and to qualify for the 2010 Kirk Cup. This I believe we can do. Retention of the Linden Cup would also be nice….
We have a very young squad with at least 7 schoolboys likely to form part of our regular 13.
I am delighted that Chris Redpath has taken up the 1st XI captaincy as his on pitch drive and effort will act as a great motivator for the rest of the squad. I played on several teams captained by his dad, William, and know the same enthusiasm exists in Chris.
I will be naming a 16-18 man 1st XI training squad soon so keep up the pre season work.
Pre season friendly matches have been arranged against Clontarf. 1sts on 22nd August followed by Annadale and Banbridge 2nds on 3rd and 5th September respectively.
Buzby
