The Roys headed down to Grantville on the weekend for a pre season camp full of challenging sessions, team bonding, values setting, education and fun!

Senior captains Julian Turner and Jess Hayes have provided us with a look into the weekend and what the teams got up to with the first instalment of their Captain's Diaries for Season 2020.

Keep an eye out for more entries from our captains during the season for their exclusive insights.

Here is Jess' first entry:

Pre season camp. One of the most highly anticipated events on the FFC calendar. For each, it differs. Whether it be the gruelling boot camp, the opportunity to build new connections with people or to show off all the work put in over the pre season so far.

For me? Its a weekend of tough exercise made bearable as I am with my Roys. Coming into camp this year, there was a fear of the unknown. With promises of the camp being like no other before, there were whisperings filled with concern and curiosity. Keeping their lips tightly sealed, the coaches spent countless hours preparing to create the first Fitzroy Olympics seen in my years at the club. The responsibility then fell on the team captains to select their countries, coordinate outfits and bring about a sense of camaraderie. There was a theme that began to emerge, of great soccer countries, with Spain, Brazil, France and Seychelles (whose World Cup Record stands at 0 Wins, 2 draws and 14 losses since 2002 according to Wikipedia), so it was a given that the weekend would at a very high standard of athletic prowess. The competition was on!

With the early morning wake up call from Bernie, the weekend was off to a flying start with Spain taking an early lead on the race to find puzzle pieces and put them together; a task of speed, skill and patience. Of course, there were questions of Spains integrity, as news came in that puzzle pieces had been hidden within the task. This then made Spain the team that everyone wanted to beat. It could have been their colour choice of red, known at pre season camp to make your team the enemy.

We followed up with a skills session, breakfast, training at the Bass oval, Lunch, Men's and Women's vision and values sessions, the fearful boot camp, some more team activities, a briefing on the player wellbeing program, a presentation on Champion Data, dinner and a trivia night. All activities found a way to highlight individual and team strengths, which was brilliantly organised by the coaches. There was equal opportunity for each team member to contribute to the success of their country. Spains early lead, although challenged, held through strong until the end of the weekend, although some might argue that Brazil won out in the team work, good looks and overall skill department.

Speaking on behalf of the Womens team, there was great discussion about the team vision and values, which need to be finalised. There is an incredible drive from all of the wonderful Roy Girls to be part of something brilliant this year, and this session was a starting point to being more united. It is a great thing to be seeing these women build and improve on the year that was 2019.

This weekend is such an incredible part of the season for all players. And it would in no way be possible without the brilliant coaches, who went over and above this year to make the weekend an absolute blast, without Sharon, the wonderful woman who kept us fed and hydrated and organised, the board members, the guest presenters (I never thought I would be as interested in data as I am now! Thanks Karl!!), the individuals who cleaned up shop and of course the players. The strength that we have together is so exciting to see and if this camp is anything to go by, 2020 is going to be the year of the Roy.