Huddersfield Town’s Frazier Campbell has told Yorkshire Live that training has been strange since it has returned.
Not only were matches cancelled when the Coronavirus pandemic hit the UK and caused a lockdown back in March, but players were also banned from going to their training ground. This meant the only training that happened was solo regiments at home but with football potentially coming back in June, normal training had to resume at some point.
The first step to normal training happened on Monday with players being allowed to train in groups at their training grounds. But even this has strict rules surrounding it. Training can only happen in phased groups and players must leave the training ground as soon as they are finished with their session. This means the social element of training has been eliminated, something that Northampton Town’s Alan McCormack eluded to in an interview yesterday.
Campbell has admitted too that training has been strange since they returned. He said: “It’s been a bit strange. But to be back out on a big pitch and hitting a ball around has been great as I’ve only been able to do that in my own back garden for the last six or seven weeks.
“We had training programmes given to us at home and staff could monitor our heart rate and fitness and things like that, but it gets pretty boring when you don’t see your teammates and it can be tough to get the same kind of motivation.
“We’ve been back doing circuits and even though it is socially distanced, when you see your teammates doing it it immediately brings that competitive edge that you just couldn’t get at home.
“We’ve had the balls out and each group has been doing their own work, so the strikers have been doing finishing practice and things like that.
“We have a chat to each other from a distance but there is no hugging or anything like that. It’s a bit weird and it’s like being back in junior football, you come in in your own gear about 10 minutes before training.
“The bikes are cleaned before we get on them and again when we get off them and everything follows the protocol. It’s a bit strange but it’s the new normal for now and we’ll get used to it. It’s better than training on your own at home.”
