Callum Marshall says he enjoyed the intense and vigorous training schedule followed by the West Ham United U21s during the pre-season camp in Portugal.
Marshall joined Mark Robson’s development side for the week-long camp in Tróia, making the step-up from the U18s and throwing himself into the double pitch sessions, gym work and cardio work-outs.
The young striker was one of four lads given the call to move up the age ranks for the week, along with Lewis Orford, Ollie Scarles and Remy Coddington, and the 17-year-old feels he has learned a lot from the opportunity.
“It’s been a good week,” Marshall told whufc.com. “It was absolutely roasting and we’ve had four sessions on a couple of days. We’d do beach in the morning, then training, and then hit the gym and do another training session in the evening as well. It’s been intense.
“It’s been a good step-up. It’s all about moving the ball really quickly, making sure you’re keeping possession and not letting the team down. At this level, you can’t afford to give the ball away. It’s been hard but it’s been a good week.”
Marshall capped the trip by starting the U21s’ first match of the pre-season schedule, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sporting CP ‘B’ on Saturday morning.
The striker led the line admirably in scorching conditions and believes the young Hammers held their own against the Portuguese side.
He continued: “The result was disappointing but, at this stage, it’s more about the performance and making sure we’re getting things right on the pitch ready for the start of the season.
“At the start of the game, we didn’t have much of the ball. But we defended very solidly and I don’t think they had any real goalscoring opportunities. From that, we hit them on the counter-attack a couple of times and Kamarai took his goal well. To be honest, we probably could have had one or two more.
“Sporting moved the ball around really well. They were comfortable passing it around the back, but I think we dealt with it really well in the first half. Their two goals came in the second half and both were from set pieces; the corner and then the late penalty. Generally I thought we dealt with them quite well.
“It’s just about fitness right now. It’s about getting minutes under our belts and making sure everyone is fit and ready for the new season.”
Marshall will hope he impressed lead coach Robson, assistant Steve Potts and the U21s backroom team after the week in Portugal and is now preparing to keep the hard work going during the remainder of pre-season.
“I only found out I was coming to Portugal a couple of days before we came out,” he added. “It’s been a good week.
“I’m off to Scotland and then the Czech Republic with the U18s in the next couple of weeks too, so it’s a good chance to continue working hard ahead of the new season.”
