3/1 To Win
For a lot of people, the idea of a four-night stay at a high-ropes adventure park isn't far off from a worst nightmare scenario.
And before travelling to Colomendy’s Kingswood site for Derby County’s Under-18s pre-season tour, second-year scholar Joe Fryatt would definitely have considered himself as one of those people.
After the Rams’ arrival on Monday afternoon, there was little time to rest and the group were rushed straight out into the activity centre for the high ropes swing and a leap of faith from an eight-metre tower.
For Fryatt, whilst the thought of facing his fears seemed very daunting at first, he spoke to RamsTV straight after and admitted that it wasn’t as bad as he imagined.
The goalkeeper explained: “We did the first activity early on and overall, I thought it was very enjoyable.
“It was the 3G swing for us first and whilst it was hard getting up there, it was a great experience for everyone.
“All the lads joined in and it was good to be part of once it was done.
“When you’re at the highest point, there was a bit of banter rather than encouragement up there but once you get down, all the lads thoroughly enjoyed it and were laughing a lot so it definitely served it’s purpose.”
Serving as Fryatt’s second pre-season tour since joining the Under-18s a year ago, he believes the experience is already proving to be invaluable and that the rest of the group are embracing their surroundings.
He added: “We’re not really used to team building as drastic as this but it’s a different environment and one that will be good for us to get to know each other better, especially ahead of the season.
“You are living very close together but luckily we are quite a close group anyway.
“We’ve got four beds in one room so you can’t really hide! With jokes aside, though, it is nice for us to get talking to each other really as there is no service or wifi.”
Football is never too far away from Justin Walker’s and Rory Delap’s side, though.
And this was certainly the case on Tuesday evening when the group trained at the ground of local non-league side Buckley Town ahead of their penultimate pre-season friendly away at Arsenal on Saturday.
On the training session, Fryatt explained: “Training will be good and it will be refreshing to get the balls out, especially in preparation for Saturday.
Having said that, sometimes it is nice to have a short time away from football and enjoy time with your teammates doing something a little bit different.
“With this little break aside, though, we are all eager to get going ahead of what will be a big game and a big test against Arsenal”
