There were a couple of signs since the arrival is Side that maybe, just maybe, the sun was going to peek through the clouds. Then, finally, on Tuesday the long awaited rays arrived and the first team, reserves, trainer and consultancy teams could finally bask in the Turkish sunshine, a welcome final ingredient to kick the positive and cheery atmosphere up another notch. All the players threw themselves into the sessions, much to the pleasure of Trainer Zoran Barisic: "the attitude is great, everyone is really up for this!" Just what we wanted to hear.Pass precisely!The Trainers were full of praise for the players as they negotiated their way through a series of surprise training games designed to work on finishing, 50/50's and precision passing amongst other things. The sessions were conducted with good humour throughout: there were wild celebrations for those able to pull off their pin point passes, and plenty of banter in store for those a couple of centimetres off.The first training session of the day was rounded off with a penalty shoot out competition as the boys split up into various teams. In the end the "midfield" showed iron nerves to emerge from the fierce battle in a blaze of glory, hoisting a yellow hat stand (the closest thing to a trophy to hand) proudly into the air. There was a great atmosphere about the squad as a hard mornings work full of physical exertion wound down.Everyone smile...After arriving in the Hotel and having a quick bite to eat the players assembled on the terrace, managed to organise themselves and then...the team photo Spring 2014 was taken. The final result can be seen here. The reserve side were also snapped by the photographer, the photos of the Rapid stars of tomorrow we will bring you shortly, as well as video evidence of the whole event. A second training session in the afternoon rounded off a pretty intense day.(gw)
29.01.2014