Today is our last day on this magnificent trip, it has truly been one of the best experiences I have had to date. We all had a long day of travelling and training ahead of us. We checked out of the hotel in the morning before catching the bus to Broadwood stadium where we went into the class room for a talk and to catch up on our log books from the day before.
Afterwards we had a planned gym session with Todd where he gave us a tough and intense work out. Thanks to Todd we all now have better knowledge on how to plan and instruct a gym session. After our gym session we went on lunch where we had time to relax and prepare for our afternoon training session. We were all looking forward to the afternoon training session with Sandy. In our evening training session we took part in a 6 a side tournament of three teams, and then we all broke into a 9 vs 9 game. This was a very enjoyable session where not only did our own group bond together even further, but we bonded with all the Scotland lads too and you can see from the talent level in the sessions that the confidence in the group was higher then ever. After training we had a short meeting with Todd and Sandy to say goodbye and also some that they could give feedback to us on our performance over the entire trip. At this stage we were all really excited to go home, so we got ready to go and packed up the bus and headed for the airport where we said goodbye to our bus driver. It was truly an experience of a life time.
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We departed our hotel and arrived at Lennoxtown where all of Celtic's team train, from the youngest form of the youth accadmy to the professional senior squad. We first had a brief introduction with Chris McCart. They introduced themselves and showed us the time table for the day. We then went on a brief tour of the Lennoxtown training ground. Here we really got to see what the professional soccer lifestyle was like. This really added to our motivation of wanting to be in a top class professional club like Celtic in the future. Next we observed the first team train for 45 minutes ahead of their clash against Inverness on saturday. We were honoured to see their training session as a lot of these players are our idols. We then departed for Celtic Park. On arrivle at celtic park we met Brian. Brian took us on a really enjoyable tour of the grounds. Here we got a real sense of the history of the club and the impact this amazing stadium has on both the fans and players of not only celtic but Glasgow and Scotland. We then had a really enjoyable lunch. After lunch we received a presentation from Chris. The presentation was all about the youth academy and what it consists of. It was really interesting to see how they bring young players through the academy into professional football. We then departed Celtic Park and headed back to the hotel. Overall it was by far the most enjoyable day for everyone. I feel we will all return home much more motivated. Today we were picked up from the hotel and brought to Queen Park FC training ground where we observed Partick Thistle training. We got a group photo before entering the ground. The training session was focused on crossing, shooting and shape for their upcoming match versus Aberdeen on friday. We had a chat with the manager Alan Archibold and he gave us an insight into how Partick Thistle have continuously gotten better each year since promotion from the first division in 2013/14. I found this very interesting considering he came in as a player manager.
After watching Partick thistle train we were collected from the training ground which was conveniently located beside Hampden park, the home of Scottish International Football. We were brought back to Broadwood stadium where we had lunch and rested ourselves for our upcoming gym session. Todd put us through our paces in a tough gym session before departing Broadwood after a very enjoyable day. Today we departed from the hotel at 9.15am. We travelled to Broadwood stadium where we did an hour of log books and had a chat with Patsy about our day ahead. We then did an extreme fat burning work out with Alan, a level 6 student. This was a great workout, our heart rates were up and we shed bucket loads of sweat! We all had our lunch In the sports cafe. After lunch rob the coach took us with hiss class for a badminton tournament. We split up and played Irish vs Scots which was highly enjoyable. We all encouraged each other in the matches. We were all very tired after a long day and we travelled back to the hotel at 4:30pm after a long day .
We arrived at Broadwood by bus this morning, the sun was shining but it was very cold. We went inside to the classroom to fill out our work experience diaries which took us about an hour and we also had a talk with David Hay and Patsy. We then had an intense training session with Todd, which was very exhausting but we all encouraged each other to get through it together. We then had our break for lunch so we all went over to the cafe where we got something to eat and drink and relaxed for a while. After lunch we were given a short rest before we had football training with Alan out on the training pitches. While we were training as Alan was show casing his skills in how to coach and showed us when you should stop training or let it go. After we finished with a 9 vs 9 game, where the GTI players played the Scottish players. We won 2-0. Then on the way home, our bus driver Stewart pointed out to us all, the National Piping building where you can be taught how to play bagpipes. Overall it was a very enjoyable day and I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Today was our second rest day on the work placement. We spent it as a group and we watched the first half of the Arsenal vs Leicester city match. Afterwards we decided to go for a walk down Buchanan street, the Main Street down through the city centre where we viewed all different kinds of buildings along the way and watching all the traditional tribal street performers. It was just a fantastic day where we learnt about some of the the Glasgow culture. In the evening we continued our relaxation with another trip to the pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. It has been a very enjoyable weekend where I feel the confidence in the group has risen hugely and the group is now closer then ever.
Today was our first day off since we got here, after the week of tough gym sessions, training, classes and tours of other grounds we were all glad for the rest day to finally arrive. To start the day we all decided to take a well deserved lie in, in the morning. We all then went for breakfast in the hotels restaurant. A bus was then organised to bring us to Celtic park where David Hay very kindly got us tickets for their clash against Ross County. We got to the stadium and you could tell that everyone was very exited about the game. The game was very enjoyable to watch and we were all happy to see Celtic get the 3 points with a 2-0 win. The atmosphere at the game was indescribable. I felt like the group bonded very well today and I feel like everyone in the group is improving their confidence with each coming day. This will lead to everyone improving there team working skills. We then got the bus back to the hotel where we discussed what to do for the evening where everyone agreed it was a evening for relaxation.
Today was one of the toughest days that we've had so far. After departing Glasgow city hotel and making our way to Broadwood fitness centre, we watched Queens of the South train and prepare for their match at the weekend which was a must win game for them. This was quite basic as we just had to watch and observe.
Following the training session we walked to the gym where our instructor Todd had circuit training planned for us. Everybody was dreading going into the circuit after Todd explained step by step how and what to do. Entering the circuits and completing it was very difficult but everybody pushed themselves to their limits and Todd was impressed with each individual. The session was followed by lunch and then we togged off for the training session. It was a tough session for the basic fact that everybody was exhausted from the circuits. The training helped us to develop our tactical play. The main aspects developed were passing, touch and knocking the ball about 15 yards. When it was finished everybody was delighted to see the end of the day. We finished with a basic warm down and then went towards the bus to head back to the hotel. All of us looked forward to the swimming pool which made our day. This morning we got the bus to Dalziel Park training grounds, the home of Motherwell FC where we observed their first team train ahead of their league match this Saturday. The facilities at the training ground were top class. We watched there tactical session where we learned how the first team prepare themselves ahead of their upcoming matches, which was a good insider to how to prepare. We then went back to their stadium for lunch, before taking time out to go pitch side where we took a group photo. We then travelled back to Broadwood and took part in a gym session where we worked mostly on cardio and core training. On arrival at the Broadwood fitness centre we wrote up our diaries from the day before and had a class discussion. After this we had an intense gym session where each individual split into a group of two. Most people worked on upper body and the session lasted for just over an hour. Lunch followed straight after this, where everybody gathered and discussed our gym session. An hour and half of technical practice with Todd was completed shortly after lunch. Overall this was very enjoyable and everybody was pleased with how the day went and we learned new techniques and training skills which was great.
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