Kate Cooper is targeting a summer of team building to ensure her squad are a fine-tuned outfit when they return to the pitch.
The St Mirren Women head coach is delighted her team was able to finally return to non-contact training last week.
With the current SWF Championship South campaign still on hold, a return to action to play half the fixtures required to complete a season by June looks highly unlikely.
With a new season anticipated to kick off in August, Cooper is instead focusing on getting her players back to training and forming a squad that’s ready to step back onto the pitch when they can finally get back to competitive action.
She told Express Sport : “We started back to non-contact training last Thursday, which is a big step forward.
“We’re still waiting on an update on the league but with the season expected to finish in June, we’d only have around a month to complete at least 14 fixtures.
“Given we haven’t played a competitive match for over a year, it’s looking highly unlikely that’s going to be feasible now.
“The next season would be due to start in August, which is a much more realistic target and isn’t actually too far away given how long we’ve already been out of action.
“We’re really happy to be back training and we’re trying to be positive and plan around what we know we can do going forward.
“We have to be ready to play whenever we get the chance so that’s our focus now. We’ll work our way up back to contact training and hopefully some friendly matches as well over the summer.
“We’re going to try and use the time to strengthen the group mentally again, so we’re 100 per cent ready to go when we get the green light.”
Having been off the pitch for so long, Cooper admits there is a chance some players may not return to the club as Covid-19 restrictions ease.
She’s determined to keep as many of her previous squad together as possible, and believes a staycation summer may also help to persuade the club’s players to stick with the Buddies.
She said: “I imagine there could be some fluctuation in the squad. Some players might not choose to come back after everything that’s happened, while some are desperate to get back as soon as possible.
“In the past we’ve always been quieter over the summer because people have gone home after uni or gone abroad for their holidays.
“We’re going to try and keep the squad together and the fact that most people will be staying more locally this summer could end up being a benefit for us.
“Hopefully everyone is as keen to get back into a routine as I am, and weekly training sessions definitely play into that.
“I’m hoping there’ll be a big buy in to training and getting back playing again. I know that the majority of the squad are all desperate to get back on the pitch and be together again.
“There’s a togetherness and a feeling of belonging that you get in football that is very hard to replicate elsewhere.
“Even just being back to non-contact training has been a massive boost for everyone involved in the team.”
