Defender Dave Atkinson on the patter of tiny feet
Defender Dave Atkinson can be excused for being just a tad more tired than the rest of the lads at the moment as he leaves tough training sessions behind to go home to his new arrival – baby Alex David – following his entry to the world just two weeks ago.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind but it’s been amazing,” he said. “Everyone tells you how hard it’s going to be but you can’t even start to get used to the idea until it actually comes along.
“Now that it’s real it has hit me because it changes your life completely. It’s a different world. When it comes to what you need to do for pre-season training you do have to approach it differently because you have to think about when the best time to sleep is.
“Sleep is a big part of your recovery but you just have to get on with it really, particularly when the baby is crying at 4 o’clock in the morning! All you can do is put everything into training and worry about sorting yourself out afterwards.”
The recent friendly fixtures have given the versatile defender the chance to get important pitch time under his belt as things start to gear up towards the start of the new season.
“For me the games are the main part of pre-season,” he commented. “Hopefully it means we’ll be flying by the time the first game comes.
“I’m looking forward to that. I’ve been given shirt number 2 for the season and that was a bit of a shock. I think it shows what the gaffer is expecting from me. I don’t mind what position I play either because I think I played them all apart from keeper last season! It doesn’t matter to me as long as I’m out there.”
On his hopes for the season, he said: “Everybody has been talking about the buzz around the place and it’s definitely there. The new players have been great additions and I can only see them improving us overall.
“There’s been a great atmosphere from day one and we’ll be looking to keep that going. Personally I feel like I’m where I would expect to be at this stage of pre-season and hopefully I’ll be flying by the time we get to the Portsmouth game.”
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