WHILE HIS new Cambridge United team-mates had the sound of the infamous pre-season bleep test ringing in their ears, Tom Champion was in the Californian sun.
It’s not that the 27-year-old was soaking up the rays. Every day he was out running up the hills around Sacramento with brother Joe after a pre-booked summer getaway overlapped with United’s return to the training ground.
“I took a bit of stick from the boys for that,” laughs Champion. “I’d already scheduled a holiday before I signed for Cambridge so I missed the first week.
“I felt too guilty so I ended up doing a summer training camp abroad. My brother lives in Sacramento so I’ve been out there the last few summers to stay with him.
“He’s a bit of a fitness freak and most mornings we were out doing tough runs so I came back in good shape.
“We did some travelling up and down the west coast around San Francisco and we went to see a few baseball games – I love it over there.”
Champion was one of Dartford‘s star performers last season as the unfancied Kent part-timers took to their Conference Premier challenge with grit and determination on the way to an eighth-place finish.
Optimistic
Their Princes Park home became a graveyard for the big boys with Mansfield, Newport County, Luton and Wrexham all going away empty-handed.
“I absolutely loved my time at Dartford – it was great playing in such a good, successful side,” Champion says.
“We were a really tight group of boys. One thing the manager Tony Burman was good at was getting a changing room full of people who would work hard for each other.
“When we were in the Conference South we were going into games as favourites with people wanting to knock us off our perch.
“Last year was a different mentality. At the start people wrote us off a bit as a part-time team coming up against these big clubs. But you look at the top eight clubs, there wasn’t one we didn’t beat.
“For people on the outside who don’t know what an effort it takes for a part-time club who only get an hour-and-a-half together on a Tuesday and Thursday night to prepare for big games when full-time clubs have all week it can’t be underestimated how well we did.”
Champion jokes he doesn’t know what to do with himself now he’s full-time. After jacking in his Sports and Leisure recruitment job in the City in January to devote more time to coaching, turning pro was a big pull.
Not that he is a complete stranger to it, having been part of Barnet‘s Conference title win in 2005.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind getting back into full-time football but I was comfortable doing what I was doing.
“Barnet seems a long time ago now so I was well into the swing of part-time football but I can’t wait for another crack.
“I was 18 when we won the league at Barnet, coming through and learning my trade. It was great to be a part of it, Paul Fairclough was the manager and it was a brilliant year in an amazing team.
“But it was at a time when I was deciding whether to give full-time football a real crack or go to University. My brother and sister had been to Uni and I wanted to experience that.
“I suppose I hoped football would always be there and if I could get something else under my belt it would be good for me in the future.
“It’s not something I regret at all. I went to Birmingham to study Sports Science and I carried on my football with Bishop’s Stortford under Martin Hayes.
“He was brilliant with me. He trusted me to train up there and come back on the weekends. We had a great team with players like Steve Morison, Danny Green and Max Porter who are all doing really well now.”
And so to the next chapter for the midfield spoiler, his words, with the U’s. Today Richard Money’s side, tipped by many to make a promotion push, welcome FC Halifax Town for the live BT Sport clash.
But Champion is conscious of the threat a hungry newly-promoted side will possess.
“They’ve come off the back of a great year, they’ll be confident and I’m fully aware of what being part of a team that is used to winning is like,” he says.
“We played them twice in the FA Trophy last year and I was really impressed with them. At their place they went down to ten men but still played well and we were clinging on for a draw. They will come to Cambridge to try and enjoy themselves.
“But we’re definitely right to be optimistic this season. We’ve signed a lot of good players and I just think it’s how quickly we can gel.
“Already I feel like there is a proper unit coming together and getting results on the pitch will only make us tighter.
“We’ve made some clever signings with people experienced at this level and then some players from levels below. We just can’t wait to start it and the first game on TV is an added bonus.”
