While half the team is down in Panama City, Panama, to take on Tauro F.C. tonight at 8 pm in the final group stage match of CONCACAF Champions League, the remaining half who stayed in Washington, D.C., took the field for the first training session since clinching to top seed in the Eastern Conference. Chris Rolfe, who has been rehabbing a fractured left forearm, practiced fully again with the team.
Practice began per usual as the Black-and-Red opened with an expanded version of 5v2 drills before moving into dynamic stretching. After a brief water break, the team broke into one-touch-and-move passing drills with one man in the middle. The drill consisted of a player in one corner passing it to the middle then receiving it back before passing it to the far corner. While this was going on in two corners, the other corners worked on their on the ball skills, weaving in an out of the sticks then passing it to the opposing corner.
The passing patterns lasted about 20 minutes while the coaches set up polls and nets across the field to prepare for a soccer tennis tournament. The players were noticeably excited about it about it as they couldn’t wait to claim the title of soccer tennis champion.
The rules of soccer tennis are simple. Each team consists of two players and the ball can only be touched three times in the air before going over to the other side, similar to volley ball. The ball is allowed to hit the ground on the first touch over the net; everything after that has to be in the air.
Head Coach Ben Olsen joined the fun and, of course, claimed the championship court to start off. Olsen and Assistant Coach Enzo Cocina cruised through their first few matches before finally being dethroned by the likes of Taylor Kemp and Nick DeLeon. Olsen claims they cheated, but it was all in good humor as he just couldn’t accept the fact that he had lost.
Kemp and DeLeon only retained the top spot for one match before the team of Chris Pontius and Steven Birnbaum proved victorious. Two final matches were played, but in the end, Pontius and Birnbaum were named the champions - although a few players would disagree.
Practice ended after the tournament and all except Perry Kitchen headed to the locker room. Kitchen stayed and worked one-on-one with a coach until it was time to close up the field.
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<p class="affiliate">Training Notes presented by <a class="red" href="http://www.theorthocentermd.com/">Orthopaedic Center</a>.</p> |
