Colchester United Goalkeeping Coach Darren Smith is pleased with the opening days of pre-season training.
The shotstoppers were back in training at Florence Park on Monday, but have spent the first couple of days training as a small group.
This was partly due to the return to training protocols that have been observed at the U's training ground, and also because goalkeeper fitness training differs slightly from that of the outfield players.
Keeper Coach Smith explained what they have been up to, and how pleased he was with the first work they did.
He told the official website: "It's great to be back at the training ground and out on the grass again."
"It's been a bit different to a normal first week of pre-season, because the lads have only been away three or four weeks instead of the usual eight or nine.
"We would normally do at least four days of fitness work on our own but with the short break and the fact that the lads have come back with good fitness levels, we are ahead of the game a bit and won't need that much.
"We'll be back with the squad as a whole on Thursday morning and it's been really pleasing to see how hard the lads have worked these first days, and how hard they've worked on their own in the past few weeks."
Smith has lost one of his first team keepers in the summer, with Ethan Ross rejecting a U's contract to take up an offer from Lincoln City.
He had played second fiddle to Dean Gerken for much of the season, and Smith feels that may have been a contributing factor in the decision to move away from the U's.
"Ethan worked extremely hard on his game and developed well in the past year."
"He is quite capable of being a league goalkeeper but was behind Dean in getting regular first team starts.
"We were devastated to lose him, but you can understand him looking for a new challenge and changing clubs.
"He was a great guy off the pitch, one that the fans really took to - I'm sure they'll all join me in wishing him well in for the future."