By: David Kyei

Date: 07-10-11

Monday, 3^rd October: It is back to business as the team begins preparation for the opening match of the 2011/12 Glo Premier League against Tema Youth on Sunday.

There were two training sessions. The first was a morning session which was geared purely to bring up the conditioning of the players.

It was two hours of physical exercises that included jumping over hurdles, foot coordination and speed, and obstruction maneuverings. There was not a single kick of the ball.

After the exercise, it was evidently clear that the players were exhausted and so back in the hotel, they quickly took their baths, went for lunch and headed to their respective rooms for the needed rest ahead of the afternoon’s training session.

The afternoon’s session was also a purely football affair with the players divided into four groups to engage in pressure play with emphasis on ball possession and accurate passing.

They rounded off the afternoon’s session with some shooting exercises to sharpen their precision shooting.

The seriousness of the players knows no bounds as everyone has been training hard to make the first team for the opening league match.

Yahaya Mohamed who sustained an injury in the first leg of the Super Two in Kumasi also began light jogging in the morning with other recuperating colleagues; Soulama Abdoulaye and Nafiu Idrissu, and their progress was encouraging.

For the first time since his injury, Yahaya Mohamed started kicking ball at the afternoon’s session and he appears completely healed.

Yaw Frimpong, whose national team call up was put on hold had a last minute call whilst training at the Dawu Park to join members of the Black Stars for their training camp in Nairobi, Kenya.

The departure of Yaw to the airport was correspondingly met with the arrival of Mumuni Mohamed in camp.

Mumuni has recovered from an injury he sustained at training some four weeks back.

After dinner, Coach Maxwell Konadu held a meeting first with the leadership of the playing body and finally with the entire body of players to discuss a code of conduct that he has designed for the use of the team.

Tuesday, 4^th October: It has been said that the one who knows tradition does not break tradition and so Kotoko being a club borne out of a rich tradition and royalty, the leadership of the contingent and the players’ leadership group this morning visited the Adukrom Palace.

The reasons for the visit were two fold. First, to formerly inform the Omanhene and his court of the presence of Kotoko in their peaceful town, and secondly to seek their blessing as the team embarks the thirty-match journey of the 2011/12 Glo Premier League.

The team was received by the Gyaasihene, Nana Osei Bonsu who stood in for the Omanhene and together with five other divisional chiefs, welcomed the team to the town and urged the leaders to continue to use Adukrom as a base for training camp since it appears the team has luck there.

Libation was also poured for the safety and success of the club and the protection of the team.

Right from the palace, the team headed to the Dawu Park for the morning training session.

Typical of Coach Maxwell, he introduces his players to different training programs everyday and this morning’s was for ball possession and passing.

For one and half hours (with intermittent breaks though), the team was divided into two and were made to play a passing game at half pitch. The sweat shed and the reaction of the players after the morning’s activity rightly indicated that they had indeed been through a tough regimen.

Training continued in the afternoon with coaches Maxwell and Castro sharing the afternoon’s responsibilities. Coach Maxwell handled the offensive midfielders and the attackers, whilst Coach Castro took charge of the defensive midfielder and the mainline defenders.

Coach Maxwell and his group spent greater part of the training session practicing goal scoring techniques and movements much in the same was as Coach Castrol took his group through defensive and man-marking techniques. They ended the day’s session with collective play where some fantastic goals were scored.

Back in the hotel, the coaches had a technical meeting with the defenders and offensive midfielders where videos of effective defending and other defence techniques were screened to them to emphasize the afternoon’s work done.

Wednesday 5^th October: The team bids an emotional farewell to the camping hotel management and staff and headed for the new camping base of Sogakope in the Volta Region.

Still on the Akwapim Mountains, Coach Maxwell in the company of his assistants, team manager and some players made a donation of biscuits, cooking oil, soap, toilet rolls, Omo washing powder, Kalypo, tooth paste and a cash component of Gh¢100 to the children of Trinity Children School and Orphanage in Tutu Akwapim in the Eastern Region.

The children thanked Kotoko for the good gesture and wished the team well in all her endeavors.

Kotoko fans still celebrating the 3-1 feat over Hearts were happy to see the team bus drive past their locality.

The team arrived in Sogakope and headed straight to the Red Bull Academy grounds where the team was welcomed by the Head Scout of Red Bull Academy, André, who assured of the academy’s willingness to roll out all her facilities for usage by Kotoko.

He also presented souvenirs to Kotoko and expressed the willingness of their academy to foster future partnerships with Kotoko.

The practice match between Kotoko and Red Bull ended in a 1-2 victory for Kotoko with Coach Maxwell expressing content with the output of his charges.

Thursday 6^th October: With the D-day for the commencement of the league nearing, the work load of the players have been eased to enable them have the needed energy for Sunday.

In that regard, only one training session was held today. The rest of the day was used to rest and so will be today Friday 7^th October.