SWINDON Storm are set to concentrate on offense as they bid to make an impact in their first competitive season.

The club will compete in National Division South after completing a series of requirements set by the British American Football Association (BAFA), and have attracted nearly 40 new players to the sport during their pre-season sessions.

Led by head coach Steve Bennett, work will soon begin to install both an offense and a defense capable of competing, with scoring points top of the agenda.

“Offense takes a lot more time to install than defense, and I have played defense for 15 years and coached it for six,” Bennett said.

“I can get a defense functioning very quickly, maybe in six training sessions, but it will take six months to install an offense. Our first five games of the season is all about the offense, getting it functioing, getting hold of the ball, moving the ball and scoring points.

“I want to look at the stats sheet and see two or three hundred yards of offense, with maybe 150 yards of running and 50-100 yards of passing. At the moment we have a bit of a mental block because we get towards the other team’s end zone and we start to panic because we haven’t scored many touchdowns, maybe only half a dozen in half a dozen games.

“When we get there we panic and slow down, but what we need to do is find a killer instinct. I have been on offenses before when you get to the red zone and you look around and know you are going to score, and we need to find some of that.

“Sometimes all you see is a nod and they put the ball in, and we haven’t got that at the moment.

“The only way we get this is by playing games, and by doing that we will have videos on the other teams and then we can focus on defense on the second half of the season.”

The Storm are running their final training session at Isambard School on Monday evening at 7pm, before returning to their regualr base at Greenbridge Road from next week.

The session will involve limited contact, and any new players interested in getting involved should bring warm clothes for outdoor work.