We played our part in virus battle ... now we face fitness battle
Women have huge task ahead as they head back into training
St Mirren Women FC head coach Kate Cooper is thrilled her players can finally get back onto the pitch after being lockdown heroes for the last six months.
The Bu Buddies ladies team have been out of action since March, when w coronavirus called a ha halt to the inaugural SPL Championship Champion South season.
That hasn’t has stopped them from playing a v vital role in the battle to beat the deadly disease, with many of th the players key workers in their day job.
Coach C Cooper is relieved they were able to return to training recently, giving g them a muchneeded break br from the ongoing tussle with Covid-19.
She told Express Sport: “All of our ourplayer players are volunteers and a lot of them are key and frontline workers.
“They have been helping massively with the overall response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve got a lot of police wo workers, firefighters and NHS wo workers who have been at the forefront of dealing with Co Covid-19 and some players have vol volunteered in shops and with cha charities.
“I work with the Salvation Arm Army in my day job and I’m just ma massively proud of them. They’ve ste stepped up when needed.
““We got back into training on Su Sunday and the players were so excited to get back into the sw swing of it.
“A lot of them had only seen ea each other over Zoom for m months, so it was great to be ba back together again. It’s just no not the same seeing someone on a screen to being with them in real life.”
The SPL Championship was deemed null and void over the summer, with St Mirren Women just three games into their new campaign.
Now they finally have another first game of the season to target, with their opening fixture confirmed as a trip to face Airdie Ladies FC on Sunday, October 18.
Cooper believes it’s now about getting the players match sharp as they kept fit during lockdown, but have spent months away from the pitch.
She said: “It’s very challenging for us to get to get the squad back to full fitness because they’ve been off for so, so long.
“Our campaigns used to run over the summer, so we were only just back in February this year and getting up to speed before the league was called to a halt.
“They’ve only played three competitive games since last October. It’s a huge break in proper play.”
Cooper revealed that one of the main challenges is making sure her players don’t push it too hard, too soon after such a long absence from the game.
She added: “We’re looking at it as if they’ve all come back from a long-term injury.
“They can’t just go straight back into training and then playing a couple of weeks later.
“The trouble is they’re all desperate to go 100 miles an hour now that we’re finally back, which I totally understand.
“But our idea is to build them up very gradually so we don’t pick up too many injuries.
“We need to build them up to a point where they feel confident too, not just in their body, but also in their ability and mentally.”