Report by Harrison Mason – Jones
?Every Wednesday and Friday I arrived at Boots & Laces the training complex for Southend United around 9:30am; I would meet Terry Mason the Youth Goalkeeping Coach then go and get changed into my goalkeeping kit. Training on Wednesdays would run from 10am to 5pm and Friday 10am to 1:30pm. On Wednesdays I would train with the under 16?s and younger, Fridays I would train with the Youth team, Wednesdays being more intense then Fridays because they played matches on Saturdays.
The days were broken up into parts so you could get some food or a snack for energy between training sessions on a Wednesday there was about 3 or 4 then on Fridays just 2 breaks. Morning sessions were mainly spent on warm-up exercises warming up for between twenty minutes to half an hour on exercises like footwork, running, stretching and light save work. Terry trained all the keepers from the under 12?s to the Youth team, they worked on many different things from controlling the ball with your feet to how to kick the ball in many different ways. Later on in the afternoon the younger kids from under 16?s to under 12?s were divided by their positions to train with each other, but goalkeepers went with strikers to work on one on ones and shooting practise. Friday trainings were more laid back with the youth having to play the next day it was more a day to work on team play at the ending of each training on a Friday they would have a half a hour match then finally a cool down and training would be finished.
The club training was run in a very professional but friendly way with the club being inviting and really helpful in training me. Southend were very encouraging to me and treated me great. I wish them all the best and I really relished the opportunity to work with Southend United?