Striker Kayden Jackson has been talking about how he is dealing with the lockdown due to the coronavirus crisis and the lack of football.
The 26-year-old says he’s coping OK with his son Arlo keeping him and his partner occupied.
"I’m not too bad,” he said. "It’s obviously a difficult time for a lot of people but I’ve got my family around me, my young son, who is four months old, so he’s definitely keeping me busy.
"I think it’s probably best that he is around and we’re having to do so much around him because it takes your mind off all the negative things at the minute.”
Jackson has previously spoken about the importance of mental health with the club having established a partnership with Suffolk Mind.
"It’s massively important, " he added. "For me personally I think it’s easier going into every day setting myself targets of things that I want to achieve throughout the day, whether that’s small housework things or going out for a run or exercise of some sort.
"It’s definitely beneficial to be doing something rather than just sitting around and mulling over everything that’s going on at the minute.
"There’s a lot of negative press out there and a lot of bad things going on, you do struggle when you just sit around dwelling on it.”
The current situation is in stark contrast to a footballer’s usual regimented day-to-day routine.
"You know when you’re going in for a session, you know when you’ve got a double session, so you kind of can plan when you when you leave the house in the morning, you can plan what time you’re going to be back to be able to do stuff at home,” the former Accrington man reflected.
"At the minute that’s all been thrown into the air and even during the summer when you’ve got a bit of time off like we have now, you can build things up fitness-wise, you know when you’re going back in so you can look to try and achieve some kind of fitness before you go in.
"At the minute it’s all up in the air. There are no set dates when we’re going to go back. It is tough but you just have to remain positive, stay active and try and stay as fit as possible.”
The Bradford-born frontman says it’s important not to just spend all the time on the sofa: "Exactly that. I’m sure there are a lot of people just sitting playing computer games or watching TV series but I think, and don’t get me wrong, doing that for some of the day is nice, but I definitely think it’s got to be part of a mix.
"You have to do something productive in the day and something challenging at times, just to keep your mind ticking over, whether that’s a quiz or whatever, I know a lot of people are doing quizzes with their family and friends. It’s something I’ve done and I’ve enjoyed over this isolation period.”
Jackson, Town's joint-top scorer with 11 goals along with James Norwood this season, says the squad are in touch with one another online, which has been beneficial: "The gaffer got a small group together the other day just to keep in touch and just see how we all are.
"It is good to see the faces, I think it’s been about four weeks now since all this been going on and football has been stopped, so it’s nice to catch up with a few players.
"Also we’ve got a few workout programmes, not that the club are doing, but a gym in Ipswich [Greshams] has kindly given us all spin bikes so we’ll have regular spin classes on a Saturday morning that a few of the lads get involved with, so it’s good to stay in touch and have a laugh every now and again with them. I’m finding that’s helping me as well.”
He admits he’s missed the dressing room wisecracking: "You don’t realise it’s such a big part of your life until times like this when it’s taken away from you. It’s good just to see the lads and have a bit of banter with them.
"I think it helps raise everyone’s spirits when you’re having a laugh and taking the Micky out of each other. It just makes you realise how much you take it for granted.”
As things stand the EFL has pencilled in a May 16th return to training for the players ahead of a resumption of fixtures behind closed doors reportedly on June 6th, however previous dates have already come and gone and football’s return depends on developments with the pandemic and resultant Government stipulations.
"At the minute it’s just the not knowing, not only is it affecting ourselves as footballers but it’s affecting everyone that wants to get back to work and is missing day to day life,” Jackson continued.
"We’ve been told provisional dates which keep being set back. It’s just a case of just holding on and hopefully everyone follows the guidelines which have been set out by the Government for obvious reasons and I think the better that everyone does follow the guidelines the sooner we’ll be back. Hopefully that won’t be too long in the distant future.”
Asked for a word for the fans, Jackson added: "I just urge them all to just stay in and stay healthy and stay active. We touched before on sitting around on the couch dwelling and not really doing anything productive, it can be damaging not only for your physical health but for your mental health as well. Just stay positive and we’ll see you all at Portman Road very shortly I’m sure.”