As part of their preseason preparation the Paisley Pyros were pleased to welcome Coach Matt Roberts from the Essex Blades who had offered his help to the ambitious side for a weekend of intense training in the Glasgow area.
Going straight from work and flying up on the Friday evening Coach Roberts made the short flight to Prestwick airport and as soon as the plane touched down the guys went straight to work talking systems, philosophy and plans over a few beers at the union. With an early start on Saturday Coach Roberts worked with the senior players, who also take on the role as coaches on the team. After 3 hours in surprisingly nice weather drills were introduced, demonstrated and installed and systems were discussed and put in place in preparation for the rookies “come and try” session the following day.
Sunday saw the introduction of the new class of Pyros, and with around 35 players, all eager and ready to go it was sure to be a great session. With his usual passion and intensity Coach Roberts led the session, with inevitably a heavy focus on defensive skills the players relished the drills and session as a whole and picked the game up very well.
Coach Roberts said of the trip, “it was great for me to really get back to basics with new faces, get stuck in and fired up. I enjoyed it immensely working everything from stances, read steps to block destruction and install. Paisley have some very talented players who could have a real future in the sport; they just need a bit of a push in the right direction and I hope my trip might help them get the programme on track.
Club spokesman and senior player Tal Peer added
"Everyone here thought the weekend was a great success. Coach Roberts taught us a lot about how to be both an effective coach and football player. He is clearly very dedicated to British American Football and I wish there were more coaches out there like him! Coach Roberts is more than welcome in Paisley any time!"
Coach Roberts hopes the trip might encourage coaches around the league to help each other out. “I hope I have left the Pyros with a new perspective, and have added something to an already solid setup. I would love to see trips like this become common place to help us coaches get better, and ultimately improve the standards of the game, which is in everyone's interests; we're already planning the Christmas trip!”
If anyone wants to contact Coach Roberts in regards to defensive coaching you can reach him at coachroberts@essexblades.com if you would like to offer help or get in contact with the Pyros, contact them on pyroscommittee@hotmail.com
BUAFL Chief Executive Andy Fuller said of Coach Robert's support
"The strengthening of football in this country will only happen through a process of sharing best practice. The BUAFL welcomes the efforts of both Coach Roberts and the Pyros in working together to offer a quality football programme for the students in Scotland"