The recently completed CFC pre-season camp marked the transition point for players and coaches between our pre-season training phase and the point at which much of its physical and strategic gains are put into practice.

The senior group started on the Saturday morning at 7am with a three and half hour SAS style training session at Swanbourne beach, led by 5 serious looking SAS “commando” trainers. Anyone that has watched the TV show “The Biggest Loser” will have some idea of how it works. For those that aren’t familiar with this type of training it involves plenty of pushups, sit-ups, burpees, army crawling and the use of props such as tyres, ropes and boxing gloves. Yep, all our favourites.

The message from the SAS guys was pretty simple… “You’re all in it together, listen carefully, follow instructions and work hard”. Not that different to playing footy really. Anytime we fell short of those standards, group punishment followed. It’s fair to say we became pretty familiar with the good kind of pain that comes with tough, hard training and while I can’t say that it was enjoyable in the moment, the boys gained a lot out of the session, including a strong sense of camaraderie. For the coaches it was a valuable opportunity to see the group dynamics operate under stress.

Perhaps the most important part of the camp was the establishment of the clubs core values for season 2014 and a clear definition of our trademark “One Team”. It was wonderful to have our colt’s squad and most of the clubs staff and directors involved too, further validating our one team ethos. These types of sessions are always interesting. On the one hand, there is the need to develop agreement and mutual understanding so that everyone is pulling in the same direction. On the other hand, individuals will always have different ideas as to what exactly a term like “Professionalism” means and for example whether honesty is more important than passion. So there is plenty of lively discussion. By the end of Saturday the club had decided on Respect, Discipline, Mateship and Selflessness as its core values. From here, we hold ourselves and each other accountable towards these values, making sure that we act towards them. Importantly this extends well beyond the footy field.

The rest of the camp included a recovery session, football strategy and all important presentations such as the new rules for season 2014, drugs in sport, and nutrition. At this point, the bubble burst for some, realising that vegetables ARE important and that a large mocha chino is a poor way to start the day.

The camp concluded late on the Sunday afternoon at our new temporary home ground at Claremont’s showgrounds. Here players and coaches from all grades were accompanied by partners and family for a casual BBQ. “One team” in action. The announcement was also made that our clubs captain will be Jake Murphy, assisted by Luke Blackwell and myself as vice-captains (stoked and honoured by the way!). The leadership group is completed with the addition of Aaron Holt, Anton Hamp, Ryan Neates and John Williams. Big congratulations to Jake and all the other boys.

From here we look forward to the fun stuff… games!

Trinity