Players getting to know Rémi Garde, and vice-versa
The first phase of training camp is over, and the team is back in Montreal for now. Although the recurrent theme of the week was fitness, it was also the first time the entire team met and trained together for an extended period of time.
“Camp’s been great,” said Daniel Lovitz. “I think the most important part is that we’re all together, everybody’s getting used to each other. Recently we’ve had the ball a bit, which has been nice, but more than anything we’ve just been getting to the same place, getting used to the guys, getting used to the team, and getting a good feel for the identity of the group.”
Most importantly, the players are also getting to know their new head coach and are familiarizing themselves with his coaching style.
“I noticed that Rémi Garde is a coach that’s really close to his players,” explained Louis Béland-Goyette. “He gives a lot of feedback, and I think that’s very important for a player. It’s always good to get the coach’s feedback and to know more or less what he’s thinking. I think having a good relationship with your coach is very important.”
On his end, Garde believes that everyone needs to be on the same page in order to succeed as a unit. As much as this week put a special emphasis on physicality, it was also a week for the team to bond and get to know each other.
“We try to have a common strategy and we try to speak the same language on the pitch,” underlined Rémi Garde. “If we compare ourselves to musicians for example, we have a symphony and we have to play it, and I am somewhat the head orchestrator.”
I don’t know about you, but we’re very eager to see the Rémi Garde band play some tunes.
