Devils hunting for their inner Ninja!
SALFORD Red Devils showed they are fighting fit for the start of the new Super League season with a trip to Total Ninja UK!
Ian Watson’s men took part in the challenging obstacle courses at the Trafford Park centre, including the infamous ‘beat the wall’ challenge.
“We had a great morning down at Total Ninja at Trafford Park,” said head coach Watson.
“It was about getting the boys out of our normal routine of focusing on our rugby non-stop and trying to focus on areas such as team spirit, working together and conquering a few different and unusual challenges.
“The first few weeks of pre-season have been really tough on the lads – they’ve worked hard. This is why we wanted to move them out of their normal environment and bring them into something different.
“Total Ninja really offered the lads a different stimulant in pre-season and that can be really beneficial to the lads to keep them on their toes.
“You could see that the lads really enjoyed it and got a bit of relaxation while still being tested physically, which is always good.
“It was good to explore a new avenue with our sessions this week as it’s going to be a really tough few weeks now for the lads as we build to Christmas.”
The Red Devils are into week four of their pre-season schedule and recently confirmed they will face local rivals Swinton Lions and Wigan Warriors in their warm-up fixtures for the 2019 Betfred Super League season.
“We’ve got a bit of running planned next week for the lads and we’ll be introducing a bit more contact this week into the field sessions,” added Watson.
“We’ll also be being a bit more alternative with our lifting programme this week as well so there’ll be a few things we’ll change this week but that is to make sure we’ll be ready and raring to go.
“I’m excited to welcome Swinton Lions to the AJ Bell Stadium in January for the second consecutive season. It’s always good to renew the rivalry with Swinton and last year’s fixture was a brilliant occasion, so we’re hoping for more of the same.
“We want to make sure the lads are ready for the 2019 Betfred Super League season and there is no better way to do that than competing against the current champions Wigan Warriors in preseason.”
Salford Red Devils 2019 Season Tickets are still available to purchase from the AJ Bell Stadium, over the phone on 0161 786 1570 or by visiting the Club’s website. THIS week is something I’ve been looking forward to since I took golf up at the age of 11 – my professional debut.
Today I’m heading to Malaga to play in Qualifying School for the Alps Tour, which is one of the third-tier tours, after turning pro last month.
I’m really excited to get going and I just want a good run of events so that I can see where my game is in relation to the pros.
I’m 20 now and played a lot of football up until I was 14. I was pretty good and played for Macclesfield Town, but when I left there I stopped enjoying it as much and started to focus on golf.
Making a career of golf is all I’ve wanted since I was about that age and I’ve played fulltime since I finished my A-Levels. This is another step towards it.
My goal is to be a tour player. Amateur golf is very different, and I just feel at the moment that playing as a professional will benefit me and I’ll get great experience.
On the amateur scene you get 10 or 11 over par winning over four rounds, but on the Challenge Tour the scoring is totally different, with 15 or 20 under winning each week and the mentality is different on the EuroPro and Alps Tours too.
You can’t score like that on the courses the amateurs play on, but the moment you turn pro you have to have that mindset and I don’t want to do that at 23 or 24.
I’ve been at Styal since I went to one of the junior coaching programmes in the school holidays there and I was with Mark Johnson before I started being coached by Simon Forrest there. He’s a great coach and has helped me with everything in terms of my golf. Tour pro Dave Horsey also plays at Styal, I’m able to play fairly regularly with him and I couldn’t have asked for more from him.
I’ve joined the management company ISM and have been talking a lot to Chubby Chandler about what I’ll be doing over the next year or 18 months. He’s been great with the advice because he’s done this so many times and it means a lot that he’s shown an interest in me.
Their support will be important.
I know it’s not going to be easy and I’ve had a few jobs over the last few years, including working in a fish and chip shop. I’ve had a lot of help, which is unbelievable.
Those people know who they are, and I’ll always be grateful to them.
One of those is David Clare at Gloria Golf. He’s from round here but lives in Turkey and has allowed me to go over there and practice and also given me a lot of advice.
Hopefully I can pick up another sponsor or two over the next few months and my main aims over the next year or so are to get my Alps Tour card and play on the MENA Tour too, hopefully getting a Challenge Tour card at the end of the year.