Source: FOOTYMAD
City in Austria
Boothroyd: It certainly won't be a holiday camp! Aidy Boothroyd took his Coventry City side off to Austria yesterday for a rigorous pre season training camp. The squad travelled to Obertraun yesterday, which is in the Salzkammergut region and near Lake Hallstatt. Coventry City will have the use of the purpose built facilities at the National Sports and Recreation Centre, which has its own training pitches. The Sky Blues had a training camp at the same location two seasons ago under Chris Coleman. City played in a couple of pre season friendlies then,but there are no plans to play any pre season friendly matches during the team building session, although it is thought that they might play an informal game against a local semi-professional team. City boss Aidy Boothroyd said, “It certainly won’t be a holiday camp! It is a secluded location up in the mountains where we can watch them every second of the day and make sure they are eating the right things, resting and working extremely hard." “When they come back from Austria they will be ready for a little breather and then ready to go into our game against Nuneaton and our match programme when we will be looking at our tactical aspects and getting the match fitness and things right in their minds.” Boothroyd confirmed that he was happy with the condition the players have returned to the club in, saying,“They have come back in very good nick. The footballs have come out and now we are ready to start with some really hard work in Austria. I am a big believer in working hard but I think you can get more out of players when there is the stimulus of a ball rather than just running." “Pre season has changed massively over the years and gone are the days of running up and down sand dunes or doing boxing training and long runs. It is a lot more specific and measured now but I still think there is room for pushing people further than they think they can go, and sometimes doing things off the cuff, but you have got to over train them and then make sure you come back down to earth and get them recovered so you can hit them again even harder. “It is a lot more scientific these days but some of the old principles still apply. They have done all their testing and now we are trying to get all the stiffness out of their legs.
