A day at the training ground

Back in December in the Oxford United youth team lottery I had won first prize of a day at the training ground, and lunch with the players and coaching staff.  After Mickey Lewis was tied down to a date, I was all set for 12th April.  With several senior players due to play in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup, the day was postponed by a week, and so finally the day was set for Tuesday 19th. 

With the luxury of a day-off work, I set the SatNav for Bicester Sports Association, and arrived just before 11am.  On a glorious sunny day, I saw who appeared to be ex-skipper Chris Hargreaves crossing the pitch, but was actually John Armstrong who is the football in the community co-ordinator who was to be my host for the day.  At BSA there are rugby, football and cricket pitches with a set of changing rooms and club-house.  United have been based there for two years now I believe, and with many Midlands based players, the short hop from the M40 makes it within the required one hour travelling time. 

On one pitch, ex U's players Chris Allen was taking a training session with around eighteen youngsters.  I think these were a mixture of the Oxford United Scholars and a few triallists from the community programs that the club runs.  Chris had them split into three sides of six, with three goals coned off, and the aim being for one team to keep possession and score two goals against the other two teams.  After each quick session the players were down doing ten press-ups. 

At the end of that pitch, Alan Hodgkinson was working with the two goalkeepers, Ryan Clarke and Simon Eastwood.  With the ground being baked hard, the two keepers were taking care not to land too heavily when catching balls fired in at them across the goal. 

Moving back to the clubhouse, the senior squad were warming up with a jog around the pitches.  Damien Batt was excused from training with a sore throat / tonsillitis, Paul MacLaren was allowed an extra day's rest, and a couple of other players were doing fitness work in the gym.  There was a triallist with the senior squad, possibly Mamadou Danfa who would appear for the reserves against Luton later in the week.  Mickey Lewis and Andy Melville took the training session, and manager Chris Wilder was watching from distance with a guest.  After some fitness work, there was a short eight per side game on a half-sized pitch.  All of the squad who were training featured, Asa Hall, James Constable, Ryan Clarke, Simon Eastwood, Alfie Potter, Stevie Kinniburgh, Aaron Woodley, Jimmy Sangare, etc.

The fitness coach took them through some stretches to avoid injuries in the heat, and then it was back to the clubhouse for lunch.  Set out like a school dining room, the senior squad were on one set of tables, the juniors on another, and the coaching staff and manager on a third set off to one side.  Chairman Kelvin Thomas also joined us, with Chris Wilder's guest revealed to be visiting sports psychologist Steven Sylvester.  Steven had played first class cricket for Middlesex, and the United men were hoping to sign him up as a ringer for their cricket match against the Oxford Mail team.   Over a lunch of pasta and bologneise, the chat continued about playing friendly cricket, watching International games at Lords and Headingley, and a general chat about football in both League Two and the Premiership.  I tried asking Chris Wilder who he wanted to come up from the Conference with Crawley, but he would not be drawn - perhaps he doesn't want any team to think that he either favours them (or not).   The youth teams were then sent collecting up plates and wiping down the tables, and collecting all of the training equipment  from the pitches.  Apparently 'elf and safety has though decreed that cleaning another player's boots carries a risk of passing on infections, so that is banned.  

As it was pay day, the player's pay envelopes were on a table for collection.  It seems there is a joker or two at the club, as Constable's had "very heavy!" written on it, and Paul MacLaren's "Old Age Pension".

After a half hour talk with Kelvin about some ideas and suggestions for the club, we called it a day around 2:30.  Some of the players were heading back to the stadium for more fitness work, and with the school holidays others were due to call in at kids' training sessions. 

Overall, I was impressed with the team spirit and togetherness that the club has, and how seriously they take training and match preparation. 

[I would later find that Mickey Lewis, Andy Melville and Chris Allen had all appeared for Oxford United in my first ever game, away in the League Cup 2nd Round replay against Aston Villa on 7 October 1992]