AM Soccer Club youngsters delighted as training restrictions lift

AM Soccer's young players have returned to training. Stock image

The Cupar-based football group has teams at all levels of the youth game and have really felt the effect of having play suspended.

But the lifting of some Covid-19 related restrictions across the country from last Friday allowed the youngsters to gather again.

Some safety measures remain in place, with only the under 12s allowed to take part in contact training.

Those in the higher age groups received confirmation that they too will be able to resume contact training within weeks, and that’s all contributing to an air of excitement within the club according to AM Soccer coordinator, Daniel Mason.

“Largely there has been a real buzz around the older players being able to get back on the pitch, which was welcomed even more with the government announcement that they can return to full contact training at the start of April,” Daniel told us.

"To make sure the players can return safely in a physical and sporting way, our phased returns sessions are providing the players with what they need so that we can help them enjoy being back in a social environment with their teammates, but also help them regain their sharpness and levels of fitness in the correct way.

"That way we get them back to high standard of training they were operating at back in December.”

AM’s youngest players have been making the most of being able to tackle, compete and play fun matches again – something deprived of them for weeks.

"The younger players are over the moon now that they're allowed to return to contact training,” added Daniel. "They have been fantastic in the non-contact training sessions and showed great concentration to continue developing their skills. The coaches are impressed with their attention and patience during a situation that they still don't fully understand. We have been repaying them with tournament week sessions where we play games from start to finish to make up for lost time.

"No matter your age, you always expect to turn up to your football session and have a game at the end, and we're delighted to finally be able to provide that for them.”