The weather has turned here in Bradenton and, for the second day in a row, the guys enjoyed sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. Saturday morning saw a 11-v-11 intra-squad scrimmage, though a handful of players were rested due to soreness or small knocks - including Chris Pontius, Ben Olsen, Santino Quaranta, Fred and Andrew Jacobson. Kyle Veris joined the guys on the sidelines after taking a nasty blow to the eye courtesy of an elbow. You can see a better shot of the bloody tear drop here.
At the Saturday evening session, everyone was put through a circuit training series - as teams of two rotated through strength and speed exercises.
Sunday morning brought another 10 a.m. practice and included a long warm-up, some crossing and finishing drills and then a scrimmage with neutral players around the outside of the field. Intensity was high and the play was scrappy - something you like to see early in the year.
This evening, the guys will be put through a short pool workout and enjoy the rest of the evening off. The team will be back at it tomorrow, as it looks ahead to Tuesday's scrimmage with the Columbus Crew.
