Preseason

Ten days ago the boys reported to Training Camp for the upcoming 2009 Fall season. There were 16 newcomers along with 19 returners from last season. It was an exciting day for all the players and coaches as this was the day they had all been looking forward to for the better part of a year.

That first night, after a long day of paperwork and meetings, the boys ran their first fitness test and did extremely well. The next morning, finally, we got on the field and were able to begin to see what this group was capable of. With only 3 days of training before our first scrimmage, was important the boys work hard and gel quickly. With nearly half the team newcomers integration was key, but a difficult task. A credit to the team though after the first couple days there was already some decent team chemistry.

By the time Saturday rolled around with our first scrimmage the boys were working together pretty well and showing flashes of what we know this group is capable of as a team. The team was very excited to finally get on the field 11 v 11 against another team. The coaches were very confident in the group and expected a win which the boys promptly delivered, 2-0. We controlled most of the game and created many more chances than the scoreline shows, despite the fact that we played 3 separate groups of 11 in the 3 30 minute periods. Overall, everyone was pretty pleased despite the fact we all knew there was a lot of work to do before the season kicks off September 1st against UD.

After the scrimmage, we gave the boys a pretty light day and a half to let them recover from the very intense work of the last 4 days, and ahead of another very tough and intense 3 days ahead of our annual Cardinal/ Gold scrimmage where the boys are split into 2 separate teams and play a regulation game. The Cardinal/ Gold scrimmage is very important because it is our last chance to really evaluate the team 11 v 11 before the season opener because the Freshman are pulled from practice for orientation until the day before our first game.

We split the boys into the 1st and 2nd teams with their own coaches and put the boys through a regulation game. For most of the game the 2 teams were pretty evenly matched, but the 1st team capitalized on some tired legs at the end of the 2nd half to come out on top.

After our scrimmage we only had one full practice left, so after evaluating some of the game film with the boys we decided to reward them with a more fun practice yesterday. We split them into their Steak League teams and let them play small sided games for the whole practice. Practice was still very competitive and the highlight of the day was Jason "Jamaica" Campbell's goal on bicycle kick to help Johnny Lara's team to an undefeated day which helped them open up a larger gap on the rest of the field.

It's 4 days until the season kicks off and overall Training Camp has gone very well. The boys have great team chemistry and are playing extremely well. We are all very excited and confident about the upcoming season, and are counting down the days until we can finally get on the field against University of Dallas and kick a ball in anger. Tuesday September 1st at 5 pm here at Austin College, hopefully we will see you there cheering us on to victory.