Berwick Miners special teams’ coordinator Dale Warren and starting quarterback Sam Walker enjoyed the club’s inaugural training camp at Mt Evelyn this month.By Marc McGowan
A GROUND-BREAKING training camp is hoped to be the first step in the Berwick Miners achieving ultimate glory in 2008.
Never before in the gridiron club’s 20-year history has it embarked on such a preparation for a season, but assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Mel Martin expects the training camp to give his side an edge.
“We introduced a new level of training and coaching to the players that was more along the lines of elite athletes,” he said.
“The players took to it like a duck to water and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
“After the first practice session – which was three-and-a-half hours long – even though they were exhausted, they were lapping it up.”
Forty players, four coaches and two support staff headed to Mt Evelyn Recreation Reserve for the three-day training camp this month.
They learned in-depth training techniques, attended team meetings, had the opportunity to practise their playbooks and took part in team-bonding exercises.
“Because the nature of American football is very technique and playbook-based, we were concentrating on those two areas alone and it was great to be able to do that with all the team there and no one missing,” Martin said.
“In an amateur sport, getting everyone together in the same place at the same time is excruciatingly hard.”
Martin believes the training camp has buoyed the Miners’ championship aspirations.
“I think the players now have a greater understanding of their roles and responsibilities,” he said.
“I also think there is a far better bond as a team, but a lot of the benefits won’t be able to be measured until the end of the season.
“As I said to the guys at the start of the training camp, at the end of the season we may be able to look back at this as a seminal moment for the Miners.”
Although the results are yet to be seen, the training camp already looks like becoming a regular on the team’s calendar.
“The feedback we’ve had since camp is basically all about going back next year and trying to make this an annual event,” Martin said.
The Miners’ campaign kicks off at 2pm on Sunday, 18 May against the Southern Seahawks.
