Virtual assistance kept training real for young stars at Ross County during lockdown
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TECHNOLOGY helped Ross County tackle the problem of the pandemic to allow them to continue to develop the next generation of Staggies stars.
Restrictions have been lifted on youngsters being allowed to return to outdoor training, with coaches now working with children in person to improve their skills in the last few weeks.
But Academy manager Gordon Duff, along with Ross County head of youth Carl Tremarco, say virtual training youngsters was important to maintain their development while restrictions were in place.
The club held training sessions over Zoom calls as well as developing an app to ensure youth players could take part in technical sessions, runs and workouts.
Duff admitted it was a challenge, but says both players and staff managed to find ways of keeping training going.
“The first lockdown we did a lot of online zoom sessions,” he said.
“We had zoom meetings with some squads at certain times during the day and delivered sessions sitting around dining rooms and have pre-recorded videos with everything being done on a timescale.
“Staff within the Academy department gave us a good a platform. The most difficult thing was giving the kids enough options within the first lockdown. The second lockdown the app worked and we created a bespoke programme on it over a period of weeks as well as organising individual sessions and also doing check-ins with the kids to ask how they were.
“We are now starting to get the kids back on the pitch, and hopefully football games will start with the kids and that will spiral towards a positive direction.”
Tremarco said using technology has had positive and negative aspects in helping player development, but he says overall it has been a massive advantage to helping them during the lockdown periods.
“During lockdown we have had more contact with them than when things were normal,” he said.
“In the zoom sessions, they probably had more touches of the ball than they would have had if we were training normally.
“In that sense it is good, but on the flip side we have missed out on hands-on coaching and positional play.
“But the aim was to keep training interactive and as enjoyable as we can so they kept wanting to come back. “The emphasis was to give them as much as we could to keep them ticking over until they were back.”
Duff and Tremarco says youth coaches at Ross County are determined more than ever to help establish Staggies’ stars of the future after going through the coronavirus pandemic.
They say it has been the most difficult period ever to develop young talent while Covid-19 restrictions were in place.
But with rules easing on social distancing, youngsters have been able to return to the Premiership club to develop their skills.
Tremarco says the dedication shown by the young players, as well as their parents during difficult times has been incredible, and coaches want to pay them back by giving them the best chance to make it as footballers.
“The least that we owe them is to put in the time and effort,” he said.
“Whatever they give back to us, it is the least we can do.
“The time coaches have given to kids during lockdown has been incredible. It would be easy to neglect the kids during the lockdown and not keep in touch with them as much.
“But fair play to them the coaches have and they have done well.”
Duff says the system is in place at Ross County to give youngsters the best possible chance of making it.
“The platform we have to build on is good and in our positions we are in the right area to push the kids up.
“I am determined as I have ever been to get kids through.
“Whether that is getting kids into the first team, which is the ultimate for us or if they don’t make it, it is up to us to give them a good learning experience.
“So when they go away, whether they are either 12 or 16 years old, they can say they enjoyed their time and give them a positive learning experience.
“That is the model we are going down, the kids need to enjoy the experience through the Academy years and hopefully that doesn’t make them fall out of love with the game.
“There are times kids will quit because they don’t enjoy it.
“If the kids are enjoying it they will improve. Now we have to look at how do we make them Ross County players, how to push them through the system and make them the best in their age group.”
Young players being allowed to return to training has been one of the best moments for coaches at Ross County.
Stars of the future have been allowed to return to the Dingwall club in recent weeks to take part in training sessions.
Duff says while the club have coped well with the assistance of technology, nothing beats being able to get players back on the pitch.
“Some of them have missed a year of football, one under-11 side had missed 129 hours of training over six months,” he said.
“That’s a big chunk for an under-11 moving to a national games programme, a lot of development potentially missed. But it has been great seeing that bit of magic about them.
“The 16 to 18-year-olds might be the ones most impacted by Covid as they have missed their final year in the Academy structure.
“But before that big decision comes it is a first team contract or that is their time up, how do we make it enjoyable for them because ultimately their time here will be short.”
Tremarco says the most important thing about football is that youngsters are able to enjoy themselves.
“Kids should be able to play with a bit of a smile and should be able to enjoy football at whatever level they are at.
“Playing at 16 to 18 years old was one of the best periods of my life. No pressure and just going out and enjoying it.
“As long as they play with a smile on their face and work hard, it is up to us to shape them into the players they become.”
