Gardening, Running & Group Calls For Hughes

- Defender Sam Hughes catches up with LCFC TV via video call
- The Development Squad star discusses what his life looks like while staying at home
- Hughes looks back on his Foxes career to date, after joining the Club in 2017

Hughes, who signed from Chester in 2017, is an invaluable member of City's Under-23s squad and, over previous weeks, has been following Government guidelines to remain at home.

Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hughes, 23, says he is enjoying spending more quality time with family after deciding to move back in with his parents for a short period.

"It’s difficult at the minute, but I suppose everyone’s in the same boat," he told LCFC TV. "It is what it is and so long as you try and keep yourself as occupied and as busy as possible, that’s all you can do.

"It hasn’t been too bad if I look at it as a whole. I feel, personally, it’s going quickly, but I think that’s because of how busy and occupied I am at home.

"I’ve come back home to mum and dad’s house, so it’s me, my mum and dad, and my brother. I’ve got a special needs brother, so he’s keeping me busy a lot of the time.

"A few lads I’ve spoken to are saying they’re finding it hard to keep occupied, but with me, I feel as if I’m always doing stuff to support and help him, so it hasn’t been too bad.

"I haven’t lived at home now for about three years and my family’s a massive part of my life, so it’s nice to come home and spend as much time as you can with them.

"As I say, just keeping busy on a day-to-day, getting out, doing some walks… I think I’ve turned into a landscape gardener with the way my mum’s garden’s looking!

"I’ve been out there nearly every day, so it’s been nice to be fair, it’s been okay."

Leicester City's sports science staff have been helping the Club's players maintain their fitness levels with dedicated fitness packages being sent out during their time at home.

Hughes admits its been a challenge to be creative with his fitness regime, but one thing in particular he's taken a lot from is the opportunity to remain in touch with his team-mates on group calls.

"We’ve had programmes sent through, running programmes to do," he explained. "We do live video sessions on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which are good to be fair.

"Everyone’s having a little chit-chat, but I think everyone just wants to try and get the session over and done with as quickly as possible because they’re tough!

"It’s been good, the session lasts about 40 minutes, and obviously with not having a gym or equipment, it’s the only possible way of keeping as fit as you can, apart from doing runs and stuff like that.

"It’s good to interact with the lads and have a bit of banter with them. It’s gets all the lads to interact and get a good session in, but apart from that, I try and keep myself ticking over day by day.

"I’m not really one to sit around. I have to be doing something, but it can be difficult when you’re on your own doing runs, but it’s the only way at the moment in these times to keep fit."

Three years after joining the Club, Hughes is proud of the strides he's made in Leicester's colours and is keen to continue making solid progress in the future.

"I feel like it’s going well," he added. "It’s nearly three years since I’ve been at Leicester, which is unbelievable when I think back. It’s gone so quick, I remember the day I signed here.

"It’s been a bit up and down, which I suppose every lad’s career will be like that at some point. This season specifically, I had a difficult loan spell, where I took some positives and learned from some negatives.

"In terms of coming back into the Under-23s, I was so raring to go when I came back and wanted to get as much game time as I possibly could.

"I think I played seven games and, in that seven games, we were doing really well. As you probably know, we were second in the league, three points off Chelsea.

"On a whole, I know I haven’t been here as long as what some of the other lads have in terms of this season, but I think as a whole, it’s been a very, very strong season."

Before the curtailment of the Premier League 2 Division 1 season, the Foxes were sat in second place, and Hughes believes City's youngsters will learn from the winning mentality they built.

"You need that as a group of players, you need that winning mentality," he continued. "At the end of the day, the no.1 thing is to win football matches and put points on the board.

"I feel as if, collectively as a group, we always managed to get over the line in the end. So, I think we last played Southampton away in the league.

"We went 1-0 down, but we ended up winning the game 3-1. It just goes to show and I feel like that’s been a massive thing over the whole time I’ve been here.

"If I relate back to my first year, when we were playing, there were so many games that we’d go behind in and we’d always find a way to come out on top.

"I think that’s massive, especially when you start going into men’s football, you’re competing to either stay in leagues or get promoted, so it’s massive that you have that winning mentality."