Harrow training

Although it was a half term session this week, 13 players managed to get to training, which was a great effort - so thank you to the parents who made it. We even managed an additional new player with the arrival of Harry who joins Rio in trying his hand at a new sport (obviously the best sport as they will hopefully both soon find out!).

We started with the usual commando warm-up, and whilst the players took to it with gusto, I have yet to see Steve the coach do a forward and backward roll during the warm-up sessions - he will succumb eventually I'm sure! We continued the warm-up with some sprint relays to get the competitive juices flowing, although I have to say that all of the players need some remedial press-up instruction; something to work on at a later date I think. Steve took Rio and Harry for some tackling lessons whilst the rest of us practised passing and running and then break-out (one player trying to escape from a circle of 4 or 5 other players). We do need to concentrate more on making accurate passes rather than flinging the ball away in the tackle, so this was a useful exercise which we will build on over the next few weeks.

At Hemel Hempstead we learnt a new version of the gate game involving varying numbers of players. This is excellent for competing for the ball, close quarter tackling, passing out of the tackle, support play and running in a confined space, and all of the players seem to enjoy it so we spent a great deal of time on this exercise, which I believe translated well into the game.

Finally, we created two balanced teams and played three sessions of a game. As with last week, all of the players are showing significant improvement; the tackles are much more committed, space awareness is coming, and most players are able to stay or get back onside now. We saw some great running (although we must learn to run straight rather than all over the pitch when we take part in the Middlesex festival), and some excellent off-loads out of the tackle. With three more training sessions before the festival I think that we are well on track.

The final score for the games was 10-all, with Luke and Ollie M producing some mesmerising runs, George and Romario some excellent tackles, Adam produced a fine off-load, Jamie some stomping drives and Ari, Owen, James, Max and Mev some great support play. Players of the week, however, go to Harry and Rio for having the courage to get involved and join in the games right from the start - well done boys!