Olot 2020/21 started yesterday with a first training session at El Morrot. The preseason starts with uncertainty because Second B clubs still do not know when the league will start or what format the category will have, now that it goes from 80 to 102 teams. In addition, the health crisis caused by the coronavirus forces extreme precautions and it is unknown what effect it will have when the championships start. If they do.
Raúl Garrido had for the first session the youngsters Marc Quer and Marc Gayolà (goalkeepers); and Joel Farrés and Marc Pijoan (midfielders). Àlex Garcia and Enric Genís trained from the Sant Jaume branch. The other new faces were those of this summer’s signings, Roger Escoruela, Albert Batalla and Juan Delgado (plus Joel Arumí, who is returning from the transfer to Figueres). Hector Simon, injured after falling off his bike, was the big absentee. “It’s been many months without training, without competing, and we wanted to get together to see each other’s faces and to be able to enjoy our football, the ball and the training,” explained Garrido. The coach gave an initial speech to the players, as did the president, Joan Agustí, and the technical secretary Sergi Raset, and then the team began to train at the Morrot.
Uncertainty, however, is currently the great concern of Olot and the other clubs in Segunda B, especially when the information that arrives about the situation of the health crisis is not at all encouraging. Garrido said that “we don’t know yet when we will start but at least this first step of training, getting together and going back to work is positive.” The coach also considers that “it is a bit strange that there is still no start date for the Second B league, nor, officially, what format will it have. We hope it will be as soon as possible.
Unofficially a possible start date could be October 18th. This would mean that “we have eight weeks to work, we have to keep in mind that we have been unemployed for a long time and we have to get to work. It’s a bit strange but we have to adapt to the global situation if it’s indefinite and a little worrying. ” Olot has not played in Badalona since March 9 and the coach is so worried about inactivity, especially to see “what the team’s response will be. It is a mystery to everyone except those who have played play-off, that they do have a closer reference. It’s life, it’s what we had to go through and we will do it in the best way “. Olot wants to be extremely careful with security measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic and therefore will periodically test the players, “in principle, weekly.”
Captain Albert Blàzquez, for his part, explained how he has been keeping fit these months: “Since we did some exercises in June that we followed, we are fine. They did the fat tests and the physical tests for us and they came out much better than when we came last year. People have taken care of us and we are motivated. We want to keep up with the pace we were at when the competition stopped. According to Blàzquez, “there are many who want to” and recalled that during the confinement “we spent monthly plannings training. Even when we couldn’t leave the house, we trained to practice in two square meters.
On the indefiniteness of the Federation, the Garrotxa footballer said that “let’s see if in the coming weeks the Federation sets a final protocol and determines when the league will start, we really want it”.
.
