Another Milestone Passes

March 1, 2008. 10 of us down in Parc50 for our first training. A small few remain; Keary, myself, Crusher, Conan. Another one was Stevie G but he took off for Japan sometime around September 2008 in his job with Toyota. He landed back in Europe at the weekend and returned to training last night. It's a totally different dressing room but he's mad for road so will settle back in quickly and be a good addition.

Another returning face is Corkman Darragh Cotter who was also here in 2008. He is here on a six month contract but if things work out he may stay longer. There is the added bonus with Darragh that he is a hurler.

Last night was my second session of the year and I'm struggling to recognise a lot of faces. This is obviously a good thing as it means we are gathering new players but the size of the group continues to alter the dynamic a little. The clubs first social of the year was last weekend and by all accounts it was poorly attended. As a group grows it becomes more difficult to mobilise it en masse and you tend to have smaller groups developing. This is natural but could potentially erode the togetherness that comes with a smaller group and that is worth something on the pitch. We must make sure, as a club, that we can maintain a clannish mentality and bring that to tournaments.

I was in premadonna mode last night and trained on my own. It's not my favoured way but it's what is best for me now. The training I attended a couple of weeks ago left the back in bits. I finally caved in and visited a doc last Thursday. Expecting the usual negativity, I got my retaliation in first, repeating to him what I expected him to say but then contradicting it with other stuff I've read. He changed his tune then and was a bit more positive. Bottom line is he doesn't think I have anything chronic wrong but with such an injury, I'm just going to have to live with the fact that it will flare up from time to time. Again, it all comes down to how much work I will do to manage it.

Eoin tried to entice me into the drills saying it would be a light session with plenty of ball but actually, it's the ball that creates the problem. Bending to pick up, soloing, even kicking tweaks it so its best avoided for now. Instead, I just did a series of sprints and a bit of core. I felt a lot better than two weeks ago and this morning, whilst I can feel the impact of the session, I'm a lot better than the last time. There is eleven sessions left before our first outing in Luxembourg so still plenty of time. A couple of more weeks of running and then there will still be time to start twisting and turning.