Head Coach Paul Holden is now known around Steel Park as Corby’s ‘Sergeant Major'. Constantly putting the players through their paces and testing their stamina, he cuts an ominous figure on the sidelines. Before the campaign kicked off, Holden and Steelmen boss Graham Drury wanted to introduce their new look side to a different kind of pre-season training.

Holden explained: “It’s a very new squad; some of them don’t really know each other so we wanted them to bond with each other. We also wanted to get them away from football in its purest form.

“Graham’s got a background in the army and I’m still serving, so we both came up with the idea to take them away to a military-style camp so they could experience something they’ve never experienced before. The general idea was to replace a Saturday pre-season fixture with something totally and utterly different.”

Boot camps have proven very popular with professional football clubs up and down the country. Not only to they serve to improve team camaraderie, but also incorporate physical activities which aren’t necessarily related to football but help improve a player’s overall game.

“We all made our way to a delightful village in the north of England that I know well on the Saturday afternoon. There I issued them with all the equipment they were going to use for the duration of the camp; their cookers, rations, sleeping kits, that sort of thing.

“I showed them how to use their cooker, because the next time they’d be using it would be in darkness in the woods, cooking their own dinner. And then we basically marched off in small teams of six.”

Holden was keen to group the players together in terms of positions, reflecting their future partnerships on the football field.

“We then walked at a good steady pace for about two hours, where we came across a nice little place in the woods. There they had to get out their ration packs and cook their dinner in pairs. After that, the next aim was to get back to base-camp so we completed a whole circuit.

“After we’d walked for about four miles, we made it back to base where we built a fire and then proceeded to have a quiz in the dark. That was pretty interesting, I’ll admit. Each of the boys stood up and told us a little about themselves, a typical sort of ‘getting to know you’ exercise.”

Having already travelled eight miles over the course of a few hours, the Steelmen might have thought it was time to set up camp for the night and sleep through till morning. But Sergeant Major Holden had different ideas, handing out fluorescent torches, so they could walk another four miles to a pre-determined campsite where they finally got some well-deserved rest.

“We got back at around half two and I had them up at first light, so about five in the morning. We grabbed a cup of tea and then set off again. There weren’t too many complaints though, because Kev [Grundy] had the BBQ going when we got back and all the lads tucked into bacon sandwiches and had a bit of banter about events over the past day.

“I know Phil Gulliver’s already mentioned a few stories; Andy Burgess’ ‘heated’ fruit salad is still a team favourite. Paul Mayo turned up in full camouflage uniform, which he soon needed to change out of because his boots were ‘killing him.’”

Overall the team walked approximately 14 miles over the course of 10 hours, with Holden throwing in a few exercises of his own. There were army-style drills where teams had to rescue one of their members and get him to shelter, as if under-fire from an enemy.

Head Coach Holden is incredibly vocal in his support of army-style boot camps and has hinted that Corby may participate in one in the near future.

“The lads have been speaking about it ever since, it went down really well! And I think you could see the results of the boot camp now that the season’s begun. At Halifax the team were walking into a lion’s den. The home side were red-hot favourites, there was a big crowd and it was at an ex-league ground and we managed to get a positive result. I saw more benefits that day then I did the entire pre-season.”

Boss Drury has highlighted the team’s fitness as a key to success in the coming season, and Holden believes their levels match that of professionals.

“Our fitness levels are as good as I’ve seen. This group of players have really, really embraced the fitness element and put in a lot of effort in training. Really what we want this year is the players playing for each other, and the boot camp went a long way to starting that concept.”