The Youth Interview Turn Up The Heat

Young Celtic defender Stephen Welsh on the benefits of warm weather training, and setting his personal standards high for the future

- Joe Donnelly

STEPHEN Welsh played the entirety of last season’s high-drama Glasgow Cup final, when a 94th-minute winner saw Tommy McIntyre’s overcome city rivals Rangers. The 19-year-old defender said winning silverware is part of Celtic’s DNA, and it’s something every player wants to experience time and time again.

Off the back of a successful trip with the senior side on their pre-season summer tour of Austria and Switzerland, Welsh now looks forward to another successful year and is determined to keep himself in Neil Lennon’s long-term plans.

HOW DID YOU FIND THE SENIOR TEAM’S PRE-SEASON SUMMER TOUR?

It was great, but it was tough. As you might expect, the intensity at that level is a lot higher than we might otherwise be used to, and the warm weather at the training camp made that even tougher again. It was so, so warm over there, but that makes you try even harder again in order to reap the benefits of the camp itself. There was one day where the temperature hit 37 degrees on the training pitch! The only way to cope with that is to keep going, to grit your teeth and get your head down. Everyone feels it in that heat, but you just need to keep on playing, and keep working hard. The days when we had the double sessions, those were particularly brutal. You’d get a brief respite after the first session and then be immediately thinking about the second. But everyone is in the same boat, and that drives you on.

A FEW WEEKS ON, ARE YOU FEELING THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF THE SUMMER CAMP?