Onward and Upward

A well attended first fixture of the New Year saw many positive aspects of play by the Vikings squad. All the players worked hard during a cold wet and windy training session. The matches at the end however had mixed fortunes for the two Vikings sides. Once again and testament to the strength in depth of the Gosport Squad we selected two sides without any thoughts around fielding an out and out "A" team. Pompey on the other hand went through a fairly lengthy selection process to pick their strongest side.

The results of the matches were as follows:

Vikings 1 - Pompey A 3

Vikings 8 - Pompey BaBa's 2

Apologies the match reports are not more in depth at present, but we are light on the coaching front due to numerous unforeseen circumstances, resulting in my having to ref the last few fixtures, which makes it difficult to focus on our squads individual efforts.

Moving on we will focus on the following points to ready the squad for the upcoming tournaments at the back end of the season.

1. Core fitness - through skills circuit training. This will be enjoyable and take the players focus off the fact that they're actually doing fitness training.

2. Defence - achieved through small sided games and grid work with the focus on high intensity tackling coupled with technical breakout sessions and one to ones for the players that need advice or confidence building.

3. Continuity (attack) - again through small sided games and introducing set moves for the squad that will give them attacking options.

Although we have a large squad we will ensure that every player represents the club at the tournaments, fielding two teams when allowed. We will start to look at building Blues and Golds teams again ready for this.

And finally a special mention on how disciplined and well behaved the players are, I cannot remember the last time the 'sin bin' had to be used. Parents, it is a pleasure to coach your children, they are a credit to you all.

See you all tomorrow 19/01 for home training, weather permitting. Don't forget appropriate training gear for the weather conditions, drinks and snacks. Please all have a look for the missing weekly trophy.