WHILE all around had the footballs out, Jonathan de Guzman was doing laps of the training ground.
The Dutch international was the last Swansea City player — alongside fellow countryman Michel Vorm — to return for pre-season training earlier this month.
As a result, de Guzman was left putting the hard yards in while his team-mates practised passing, shooting and the rest.
Any footballer will tell you that the worst part of preparing for a new season is the stringent fitness work.
Yet de Guzman looked unruffled even as he racked up the laps, and we probably should not have been surprised.
Stamina, after all, was one of the assets which ensured his first season as a Premier League player was such a smooth ride.
When he arrived in Wales last summer, de Guzman set his sights only on time on the pitch.
He had just come off the back of a miserable season at Villarreal, where he was in and out of a side who ended up getting relegated from the Spanish top flight.
The plan was to get playing under again under Michael Laudrup — and it came together.
After the struggle in Villarreal, de Guzman clocked up 45 appearances in a Swansea shirt.
There were eight goals along the way — including two in the Capital One Cup final — and he made his way into the Netherlands squad for the first time.
It is no wonder, therefore, that de Guzman was keen on coming back to SA1.
"I am very happy," de Guzman says.
"The meetings with Villarreal and Swansea over the summer were pretty smooth and I am happy to be here.
"Villarreal wanted to know how I felt about the situation, and I told them I was very happy at Swansea.
"I think they knew that anyway because they followed me throughout last season.
"I said I would prefer to come back to Swansea this year and they were very easy to deal with.
"Now everyone's happy on both sides — especially me."
The challenge now for de Guzman is to repeat the feats of last season — and the incentive is huge.
When de Guzman started out at Swansea, there were question marks over whether he would play for Canada — the land of his birth — or Holland.
A year later, he is a fully-fledged Dutch international with five caps to his name and an eye on next summer's World Cup.
If de Guzman can put together another season like 2012-13, the chances are he will join the likes of Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder in Louis van Gaal's squad for Brazil 2014.
Before South America, however, de Guzman must focus on his task in South Wales.
Decision
Laudrup is clearly a huge admirer, but the 25-year-old knows there will be battle for starts at Swansea this season.
In central midfield, after all, the manager's options are plentiful.
This summer's two new boys — Jonjo Shelvey and Jose Canas — have arrived expecting to play.
Then there are those who featured so often alongside de Guzman last season, Leon Britton and Ki Sung-Yueng.
Laudrup's decision to use Michu as a striker meant an extra space in midfield at times last term but, with Wilfried Bony now on board, the expectation is that the Spaniard will drop back into his preferred No. 10 role.
As things stand, therefore, de Guzman looks to be battling Britton, Ki, Shelvey and Canas for one of two places in the Swansea side.
"You can see the competition, but that just pushes everyone to do their best," he says.
"You are not sure of your place, especially at the start of the season, and that means people have to push themselves in every session."
Reinforcements
Standards on the training ground are arguably higher than ever this summer, with Swansea investing more cash than at any point in their history in the playing staff in a bid to ensure they are prepared to compete on four fronts this year.
"You can see already that the squad looks stronger," nods de Guzman.
"There are reinforcements in midfield, as well as up front and at the back.
"And everyone's happy to have those new players because they can help the team out."
For all the successes of last season, de Guzman reckons things might have gone even better.
After beating Newcastle to reach 40 points in early March, Swansea won just one of their last ten league games.
And de Guzman believes a lack of high-quality options in the squad cost Laudrup's men at the tail-end of last term.
"We need that competition," he adds.
"I think you saw that especially at the end of last season, when we went downhill a little bit.
"I think with the players and the depth we have now, we will have a stronger side next season."
So can Swansea really aim for more after what is widely regarded as their finest ever season?
"We had a great last year, but we have a couple of reinforcements now and we can hope for a lot," de Guzman suggests.
"You can always raise the bar a little higher."
