Jordan Williams’ girlfiend is a personal trainer so is making sure he stays in shape during the lockdown.
The 20-year-old right-back is living with his girlfiend Kim and her family during the outbreak of coronavirus, while following a personal fitness programme provided by Oakwell sports scientist Luke Dopson. Williams told the Chronicle: “She keeps me fit and raring to go and she’s inspiring me. It’s like having another Luke at home. She has a gym at home so that’s ideal for me. We were supposed to be moving out this week but that is not happening because of all this. It’s tough but you have to abide by the rules and hope it will pass soon.”
Williams has been working his brain as well as his muscles. He said: “I have been playing a quiz with my family, doing running and walking and some gymwork. I have started reading a book called Relentless by Tim Grover. It’s about how you can improve yourself and be the best person you can be. That’s what I want to do. It’s motivating.”
Williams has been keeping in touch with his team-mates and bosses at Oakwell. He said: “We have had a Zoom call every three days with different activities like yoga and strength sessions. “Sometimes we just have a chat and see how everyone is coping in different countries like Bambo (Diaby) in Spain and Mads (Andersen) in Denmark. I am missing football a lot but, when we get through this tough time, we will cherish it even more. This virus is killing a lot of people so we can’t put football first.”
With Barnsley seven points adrift at the bottom of the Championship, Williams is keen to complete the final nine games and remain at that level. He said: “I want to finish the season and for us as a team to prove that we are capable of staying up. But we can’t make the decision for them so we have to see what happens. We can stay up, if we come back in good shape and hit the ground running. You never know what can happen. We loved the promotion last season and we definitely don’t want a relegation so we will try our hardest to prevent that when the season starts again.”
After playing towards the end of Barnsley’s promotion season in League One a year ago, Williams endured an injury-plagued start to his first Championship campaign. But he has started 23 of their 37 league matches this season. He said: “I found the first month or so tough with getting injured then coming back under Daniel Stendel and getting injured again but, since Gerhard Sturber has come in, I have really enjoyed my football and I think I have played some of my best games for the club.”
Struber benched Williams for Barnsley’s most recent match, a 2-0 home loss to Cardiff City on March 7. He said to me that he was rotating and the game was more suited to other players. It was nothing against me.”
