Eagles Weekly Wrap - Issue:1

WE'RE BACK!



Last weekend marked the start of our 2023/24 season, with all of our National League sides undergoing pre-season clinics.

Day 1 - On Friday Morning we welcomed back the U14s Girls & U12s Boys, who were all put through their paces by Head Coach Dave & Coach Tyler, in high-intensity drills (Ball Handling & Transition) and focus on Offensive & Defensive Setups.

Fast forward to Friday afternoon, a small group of the u14s young team was tested on their decision-making skills in 2-on-1 situations and then had an introduction to BOBs. This side is getting ready for their first taste of the National League and the whole team playing a year up, as it will yr8 v yr9 in most games.

Day 2 - Roll on to Saturday at the University of York, we put the U14s A squad through tough physical training as we look to a strong start in the U14s Jr North Conference, with U14s Coach Tyler putting his team through various fitness challenges and understanding of the importance of transition.

Saturday Afternoon, our U16s Conference squad worked on detailed defensive structure as well as our common transition training. A team built of 4 squads from 2022/23, so a lot of team chemistry still needs to be ironed out.

Day 3 – An early start for most players on a Sunday morning, our U16s Premier team, led by Coaches Paul & Dave – focused on defense variations and working on finer tuning certain areas after Saturday's pre-season friendly win against Barnsley Metros. A long way to go but heading in the right direction after losing their star player (Ollie Bishop committing to Charnwood Academy for 23/24).

Finally, finishing off our pre-season clinic was our newly promoted U18s side, who look forward to entering the U18s Premier Division this season. This was their first session back for a while, Coach Rod ran a lot of transitions to get rid of the rustiness from players and worked on some defensive structure, and then Coach Tyler led them into a 3 man motion drill, working spacing and timing.

GAME REPORT:

SATURDAY 2^ND SEPTEMBER 2023 – BARNSLEY METROS 37-86 YORK EAGLES (U16S FRIENDLY)

York Eagles U16s Premier side, without a single training session or playing together for 6 weeks, put up a good performance against Conference side Barnsley. A lot of work still to be done offensively and defensively before the season start and still have one more friendly to go on the 23^rd September, home to Derbyshire Arrows.

Coach Paul Pickering commented on yesterday’s performance:

“Today was a great start to the pre-season schedule. Hitting the hardwood 1 day before pre-season camp allowed us to see where we were after the summer break and allowed us to take an early look at what we need to work on in pre-season to ensure that we are competitive and ready for that opening fixture on the road to Northamptonshire Titans at the end of the month.

Overall, we played well and the team spirit and togetherness of the squad is really starting to develop. Everyone wanted each other to do well and when things went well they supported their teammates. When things didn’t quite go to plan, they were there to pick each other up. This is critical for us to be successful this season.”

Iasonas Morys was named “Player of the Game’, finishing with 13pts, and led the way in demanding changes when York was struggling and when inserted into the game, ran offence and orchestrated spaces to allow others to score.