Australia NewsBruce In Boot Camp |
EXCLUSIVE: Despite scoring six goals in the pre-season, in-form Bruce Djite says most of his first six weeks at Genclerbirligi have been holed up in exhausting training camps.
"First, we were out in the mountains seven hours from Ankara at a training camp for two weeks," the former Adelaide United striker told au.fourfourtwo.com from Ankara before training. "And then we got back to Ankara and we had another camp here."Asked how he adapted to a new team and being in a mountain hideaway, the jovial Djite replied: "The longest two weeks of my life! There was nothing there.
"It was around 90 minutes drive to the nearest city. They had two beautiful football pitches - and just one hotel there. And that was it."
Not that he's complaining. Djite has enjoyed the challenge Turkish football, and 'Birligi, brings. But the obsession with putting players in camp away from the world has taken some time to get used to.
Quizzed on the reasoning behind this boot camp mentality and Djite added with a laugh: "I wish I knew!
"Before I came I spoke to Mile [Sterjovski] and Nicky [Carle] and they pre-warned me about how you're always in camp here. You train twice a day, every day. We're at the club from 8.30 in the morning till 9pm at night.
"For me I'm lucky, I came here by myself. I can absolutely understand why they had to leave or weren't comfortable here with families with them. If you have a family it's impossible. It's not possible."
So will 21-year-old Brucey start a family in Turkey? "Mate, no chance!"
After the devastation of missing out on an Olyroo spot, Djite is knuckling down to the challenge in the Turkish Super League. And according to club insiders, he's on track to be in the starting XI when the league kicks off in around two and half weeks time.
He added: "Time will tell but I think I've adapted well to what they want here.
"But it's not like after six weeks I've made improvements in leaps and bounds. Every day I'm working hard. If I work hard I can improve definitely."
However, with the season starting shortly, the training should ease somewhat, giving Djite a chance to find out more about life in Turkey. At least that's the plan.
"The amount of training we've been doing has meant I haven't been able to go out exploring," he said.
"But during the season if we get a couple of days off I'm keen to explore and enjoy life here and get out and about."
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