Following an exciting orientation at Red Bull Arena, the players convened at the stadium once again; this time to board the bus for their departure to preseason camp at Golden Goal Tournament Park in Fort Ann, NY.
As they waved goodbye to their families, the players had very little idea how meaningful this week would for the bonding of the group. To ease the 3.5 hour road trip, the players enjoyed a viewing of “The Mighty Ducks” while others chose to focus on Sunday’s Premier League fixtures.
Upon arriving at Golden Goal, the players could see why they had endured the long ride up to Fort Anne. The 200 acre soccer complex boasts four turf fields, four manicured grass fields, classroom spaces, game rooms, soccer tennis courts and a challenge course. The Pre-Academy Team players had the perfect setting to begin their journey on the field together.
After checking into their cabins and making their beds, the players were taken through camp orientation by Senior Manager of Player Development, Simon Barrow. Next, the players had a much needed dinner before heading to the fields in the evening for a round-robin festival of games. The boys were split into their three respective regions, while the girls were separated into their two teams. This would be the first time the teams would have a chance to play together as a group.
The real work for the week would begin on Monday morning as the players took to the training field for the first time. The teams were put through an intense 90 minutes session by their new coaches to kick off the week’s training.
Following lunch, the teams where split off by birth year and spent some time in the classroom with coaches Anton McCafferty, Brittain Wagner and Duane Pena. Creating the players’ code of conduct for the upcoming season was no easy task. The players were broken into small groups and debated what should be included before reporting to the group as a whole. Using similarities between the small-groups the players were able to build a set of guidelines that they will live by over the upcoming year.
Next the players were run through a series of athletic tests in order to gather their baseline metrics for speed, agility and endurance. The competitive nature of the boys and girls came out in each of the three tests, as they not only tried to beat their own score, but also that of their new teammates.
Prior to going out for their evening games, coaches Brittain Wagner, Colby Cunha and Ryan Rademacher took each group of players through a brief presentation outlining the shapes that each team would be playing in for the season, as well as the roles and responsibilities within each formation.
The evening session saw the players return to the fields to continue to play, joined by the state-of-the-art drones which were used to film aerial footage - useful for the classroom sessions held later in the week.
After a long day full of soccer and classroom sessions, the Pre-Academy Team players enjoyed a bonfire with s’mores in the evening before heading off to bed for a well-deserved rest.
Tuesday morning brought another classroom session as well as a challenging obstacle course for the players. They began inside where RDS Manager, Gareth Tyack took the players through how to complete their self-evaluations. This required the boys and girls to think critically about their own game and their own performances which will be a constant theme throughout the year.
Shortly afterwards the players went from thinking solely about themselves, to thinking about their teammates as they embarked on the now infamous Golden Goal Challenge Course.
Consisting of several obstacles that can only be overcome by working in unison, the challenge course would further help to bring together a group of young players who the previous day were still learning each other’s names.
Finishing the course in style, the players tackled the mud hill with gusto, to such an extent that some of the mud that they collected on Tuesday may well have made its way back to their homes on Thursday.
The players then had dinner before presentations from coaches Ross Crichton, Gleb Gershman and Brittain Wagner on how the teams were going to press from the front when defending.
Following the presentation, the evening saw eight more intense matches played across all age groups, before the players enjoyed some downtime in the evening and eventually heading off to bed.
After two busy days the players all enjoyed a good night’s sleep on Tuesday and were a little slower to awaken on Wednesday morning. They had certainly woken up by the time that the first session rolled around however and continued to look sharp on the field.
It was back to the field on Wednesday afternoon as the players completed two sessions on Wednesday. After the extra exertions of the double session, the players took straight to the ice bath in the afternoon.
The girls, without a doubt, proved to be the toughest of the group as they sat calmly in the ice bath, jump-starting their recovery from a tough day of sessions. The same cannot be said about the boys as many of them struggled to handle the ice-cold water.
The teams were in for a special treat on Wednesday night as a handful of mini-tournaments were played under the lights on the stadium field. The event saw the 2007 girls face off against the NY & NJ ODP groups, as well as the Westchester Select Program - training groups who had been participating in Red Bulls' Elite-Combine that had been at camp alongside the Pre-Academy Teams.
The tournament also included round-robin matches between the 2008 and 2009 Boys Pre-Academy Teams, while the 2007 Red Bulls Academy team took on a group of 2006 Elite-Combine players in front of a rowdy crowd in the rain.
Following the tournament, the camp enjoyed the New York Red Bulls’ 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo with a goal from Brian White coming in the early stages of the 2nd half.
Thursday morning saw the players take to the field for their final session of the week as all groups completed the week with a session focused on going to goal. The afternoon session then saw an end of week tournament between respective age groups and regions. Some fantastic soccer ensued over the following hour and half as the teams battled it out to become the MLS Cup Champions.
Played in good spirits, the tournament was a great showcase of the many talents that the young players possess and a great end to the week. The final act of the camp for the players was to pack up their belongings and board the bus back to Red Bull Arena, with Mighty Ducks 2 keeping the players just as entertained on the journey home as the first installment of the film trilogy had on the outward journey.
After five days spent together, the group of close to one-hundred highly talented individuals had taken their first steps toward becoming teams.
The road would be long and challenging, but a great start had been made and the foundations laid for an enjoyable and successful season.
