The UOG Football Men’s 5s kickstart their 2026/27 BUCS campaign on Wednesday as they host Royal Agricultural Men’s 1s at Plock Court.
Westlake gave his overview on the upcoming campaign as his side look to build on a positive finish to last season.
“We had a few strong players staying, a real good core spine to the team staying and with some new players coming in to add to that. I’m pretty excited, I think we can win certainly more games than we did last year. I’m hopeful we can end up in the top half of the table, if not even higher. Looking at the first years coming in, I’ve been impressed with the quality coming into the team which adds to that quality we’ve already got.”
Gloucestershire’s 5s finished fifth in the Men’s Western Tier 6B last campaign and Westlake feels he’s identified how to improve on his side’s shortcomings.
“Sometimes we were too easy to beat. We would play quite well in games, create chances and then the opposition would go down the other end and score, everyone’s heads would drop and then it would go downhill so we’re looking to be more resolute in defence especially on the road. I think we can take too long to adjust to the pitch, the conditions, we need to try and be on it. I’m not sure whether it’s the travelling but it’s something we need to overcome and be better at.”
The former UOG student has been involved in the coaching setup at the University for three years now and reflected on his personal development across that period.
“In terms of the pure coaching side I feel I’ve come quite a long way. Certainly, compared to some of the first sessions. The main thing this role has taught me is adaptability. I’ve been exposed to these scenarios, and it’s about how can I react to situations. Dealing with 20 plus players all wanting to play every week, they train every week, getting used to that situation, that balance of picking the strongest team I can but making sure everyone gets a fair amount of game time. At the end of the day, everyone’s in this situation where they’ve paid the same amount to be there, it’s hard to keep that rotation fair when you want to be playing somebody every week.”
