Keighley on track for new season

Keighley Cougars Conditioner Paul Royston is very satisfied with the squad’s efforts and results over pre-season. As Paul looks ahead to the 2010 season he reflects on how he thinks training has gone over the last three months.

“Barry (Eaton) and I spent some time discussing what we wanted to achieve from pre-season training and what areas the lads needed to improve on most before entering the Championship. The areas we specifically wanted to focus on were explosiveness and sharpness.”

Due to the bad weather over the winter months it gave Paul the chance to get the players in to the gym for some tough sessions. This meant that the squad were taking part in two gym sessions with Royston and then were given a programme to complete on their own during the week. This was monitored by Royston who got the players to hand in their result sheets on a Tuesday evening so he was able to see how they were progressing.

“The training sessions have been very intense and tough but the whole squad has been exceptional, they are a fantastic group of players who are very dedicated to improving all aspects of their game.”

“Teams in the Championship are a lot quicker than in Championship 1 and it is vital that our explosiveness and sharpness is the best that it can be. I am delighted with the way the lads have trained and just from the first two pre-season games I can see a lot of improvement especially in the St Helens game a few players stood out for me in terms of general fitness and explosiveness but what is more the team have so far achieved the goals that Barry and I set.”

After the Cougars have kicked off the competitive season it will give Royston the chance to start working individually with the players. Paul explains the importance of continuing with the gym sessions and building self belief “As the season develops I will start to work more individually with the players focussing on areas that they need to improve, as they improve on the field they also improve mentally which leads to higher motivation and an increase in self belief.”

Royston, who owns ‘Workouts’ gymnasium on Oakworth Road, Keighley and in Shipley, was on the Cougars staff when they were last promoted in 2003 and has advised many of Eaton’s predecessors is enjoying his time back at Cougar Park; “I am really enjoying my time back at the Cougars and I get on great with Barry Eaton and Glen Barraclough. We are all looking forward to the season and will be working extremely hard over the next seven months to improve each player and the team as a whole.”