Harvey Hodd and Kieran Dunbar wrote about their experiences
Development squad players Harvey Hodd and Kieran Dunbar keep Town fans up-to-date with the goings on during their first few days out in Austria on pre-season.Day One
The Fleetwood Town development and under 18 squads’ pre-season tour started abruptly on July 15th with a 3am wake up call at the lodge.
Both teams were packed and ready to go at 3:30am and headed to Manchester Airport. After a successful check-in and some airport breakfast, the lads boarded the plane in anticipation of arriving at Munich airport, but also to catch up on some much needed sleep!
Eventually we arrived at Sudstadt sports complex which is the base for Austrian Olympic athletes and teams.
It wasn't to be as relaxing as we expected, as once we checked in and with little time to unpack any clothes we headed out for a run to get our legs going again after a manic six hour drive from the airport.
A 15 minute run ensued, and luckily didn't come with any casualties. We were truly dead after the hours of travelling and time on our legs, so we headed off to bed after a bit to eat in anticipation of the full day of training the following day.
Seeming like only a couple of minutes after closing our eyes for some sleep, we were back up at 7am for our daily morning run. Our manager Barry Nicholson led the 21’s whilst the 18’s run was taken by their management.
Half an hour later we were back inside the hotel and eating breakfast, enjoying the cold meats and cheese so many European countries favour.
We were back out on the training pitch for 11 for our first session of the tour. After a warmup, some possession boxes and an attack vs defence game, the heat was starting to take its toll.
Some 33 degrees is a tad different to the rain and wind which usually batters the West coast of England! As it was pre-season we ended the session with a few runs to increase our fitness levels and went straight into a warm down.
We didn't start our afternoon session until 4pm, so we had some till to chill out, get some food into us and get some shut eye.
But again before we knew it 4pm was here and we started the afternoon session with an 11v11 training match with the U18’s in preparation for their game the next day.
A tough afternoon session was completed and as a result many of us decided to cool down in the swimming pool located at the hotel.
It’s fair to say that the 30 degree heat had taken it out of of us all on our first day, and the 6:30pm dinner came at just the right time to allow us to refuel and relax for the rest of the evening.
The coaches told us to be in our rooms for 10pm ready for a 6:30am wake up call the next day - the grind never stops!
Day two
Aching and tired from yesterday’s exploits were no excuse for the morning run, and we carried on regardless with a pacy 15 minute run at 7am.
In preparation for the U18’s game in the afternoon, they had a lighter session whilst our group trained slightly later and slightly shorter to combat the incredible 35 degree heat.
Don’t get us wrong, a shorter session does not mean no running! We finished the session in the usual way with some shuttles to get some sharpness before our game against Rapid Vienna.
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