If you have been following Arsenal's Twitter feed, you'll have seen that the first team is back for preseason training this week.

There are still a few key players missing, thanks to their countries' successful runs in Euro 2016, of course. Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Mesut Özil (Germany), Laurent Koscielny (France), and Olivier Giroud (France) are all currently taking part in the semifinals of the competition.

The rest of the non-injured players are back and working hard for the start of the Premier League season in just about one months time. With this for us comes the added pressure of preparing the pitches to measure up to the standard the manager and the players require.

You get a bit of a sense of pride knowing that some of the most famous athletes in the world will see (and play) on your work. The club has invested a LOT of money in these players, so every blade of grass must be immaculate in order to minimize injuries and maximize performance.

One of the first team pitches.

All ten of the main pitches have been renovated and have either grown back in or are currently growing back in. Mowing and marking out the pitches are the main jobs every day. Along with the first team, the Under-21 and Under-18 mens teams and the Arsenal Ladies are training each day as well.

Liquid-feeding a new pitch using a covered boom 3-pt hitch sprayer.

We also had a weekend free, so assistant head groundsman Andy Purser and I went on a camping/fishing trip to a nearby lake. I was able to catch the biggest fish I've ever caught, an 8.5 lb carp.

Below, Andy prepares a nice prawn curry for dinner.