The benefits of training in paradise

Fran Grima was one of the Unión Deportiva Ibiza players who played the most amount of matches last season: he took part in 32 encounters (all but one as a starting regular) and finished the league in even stronger fashion. At the beginning of July, the right back decided to tie the knot and also enjoyed some well-deserved holidays during which he travelled through Indonesia with his wife. The honeymoon ended on Friday when Grima met up with his teammates and got to know the new signings at Can Misses.

Friday’s morning session, however, was anything but conventional. Half an hour into the session, the Barcelona-born player found himself laughing as he made his way through a sea of arms as his teammates paid tribute to the newly-wed.

The coaching staff, led by Ibiza’s physical preparation coach Álex Prieto, had decided to arrange a different and entertaining training session on the beach aimed at building up muscular strength and stamina. The session also had an additional and intangible value: apart from breaking the routine of training on the artificial pitch of the municipal stadium, it gave the squad an opportunity to bond and build on its close-knit environment as well as alleviate some of the mental fatigue of preseason.

The players and Pablo Alfaro – whoprobably enjoyed himself the most – had the pleasure of enjoying the nice surroundings while arguably working harder than in any of the previous training sessions completed so far this summer. To finish the session, the players took a dip in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the benefits of training in paradise. The highlights video leaves no doubt whatsoever about this fact.