So, everything has been going so well with our pre season, but today we suffered an injury setback.

One of our new international recruits, went for a ball and landed awkwardly and dislocated his elbow. Ugly injury, but fingers crossed it is not going to be too bad. We are hoping that he will only be out for a couple of weeks.

All credit to the boy, he has handled it well so far and he has already set a target for when he wants to be back. He will be seeing and orthopedic specialist on Wednesday, so hopefully we will have good news.

I spent a few hours in the ER with him, then when he was released we went back to the practice field for our second practice of the day. The players were fantastic in that they let him know they were there to support him.

I was very impressed by the attitude of the players in practice, they could have easily let the injury play on their minds, but they were fantastic. They really gave their all in practice and put on a very good performance.

I have a good coaching staff made up of our goalkeeper and fitness coach, Jerome. Alongside him I have three other assistants who played NCAA Division I and Division II as well as a volunteer coach who played four years for our school. It is good to have fresh perspectives and people to bounce ideas off and to learn from. The players get tired of hearing my voice, so it is good to have other coaches to listen to as well.

So, we have our first pre season game in a couple of days. Tomorrow’s practices will be lighter, focussing on set plays, defensive work and finishing.