While most people think of preseason in Florida as a mini-vacation, it’s really quite the opposite. As the team packs and prepares to leave for the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., we caught up with two of the preseason veterans on United’s staff, Equipment Manager David Brazuer and Team Administrator Francisco Tobar, to get an inside look at what actually goes on.
DCU: Here’s the obvious question. How much equipment have you sent to Florida?
DB: So far we have sent down 35 bags (as of the morning of Friday, January 23), which is about 1,500 pounds of equipment. Then we usually send another 30 bags with the team as they fly down; most of the time it usually equals two bags per traveling member of the team.
DCU: What kind of things are you all shipping down to Florida?
DB: Anything and everything from the trainer’s supplies like tape, wraps, splints and massage tables to medicine balls, and hurdles for the strength and conditioning coaches. It’s like packing the entire locker room for a month. We need all the training gear we will wear for two practices a day, for two weeks.
DCU: There is never an ordinary day in preseason, but walk us through what would be a typical day in Florida.
DB: The first week is all about getting your bearings right. So a typical day might look like this:
- Wake up at 6 a.m., 7 a.m. if you get to sleep in
- Go grab some breakfast
- The team will come get gear around 8:30 a.m.
- Head out for training
- Come back, and everyone turns in the dirty equipment
- Grab lunch, usually around 12-1 p.m.
- There is a slight break for players while we do laundry and get prepped for the afternoon session
- The team comes back around 3 p.m. to get the gear for the second session
- Train until 6 p.m. most days
- Go back, the guys turn in all their equipment for the day
- Dinner with the team
- Then it’s time to clean everything - wash, dry and fold everything from the day
- Lay everything out for the morning session that night and hopefully you’re back in bed by 1 a.m.
It’s usually 16 hour days for the first week or so.
DCU: When you hear the word preseason, what comes to mind?
FT: It’s a lot of chaos and work. It’s a combination of bringing new players in and moving everyone from our home in Washington, D.C., to another destination, right now Florida, and trying to make that our home. It’s a bit of a complicated process with planning, so it’s quite a challenge.
DCU: What’s your main responsibility for preseason?
FT: Just like with any trip, there’s all the preparation that takes place prior to going anywhere. Things like identifying the right hotel, the right training, deciding the team meals while having and a combination of team meals and per diem for the players, do we use any car or bus rentals and booking all the flights for all the players and staff traveling. All those areas are part of the planning process before we go anywhere. Once we get down to Florida it becomes implementation, follow up and follow through with what has been set up. The plan is for everything to go smoothly, and sometimes there are obstacles, but as long as we are at the forefront of those things, and we take care of them prior to anyone noticing, then we have done our job.
DCU: You are familiar with Florida since we have gone before, but what obstacles do new environments bring?
FT: Once you have been to a place you have a feel for it and know what will and won’t work. When you haven’t been somewhere there’s a lot of research that needs to be done. This preseason is different than any other preseason I have dealt with because of the early CONCACAF Champions League game. We had to almost create that second camp to be a very long camp, but it’s in three locations. What went in to that is, we want to be in a warmer climate, so we went to Texas. We also want to be closer to Costa Rica, because the goal is to be ready for that game, and to have the ability to fly nonstop to Costa Rica, and Dallas does that for us. We have a great relationship with FC Dallas who opened its doors to us. We also have to schedule games during the preseason, and that’s what I get to do as well. There are a lot of things that need to be set up and a lot that needs to be fine tuned when we get to those places.
DCU: What’s your first week of preseason look like as a team administrator?
FT: The main thing is to get everyone moving in the right direction, at the right times and get everyone on one schedule. I’m going to Florida, ahead of the team, to make sure everything is set up. I will meet the team at the airport, go to the hotel, check the team in, make sure they get gear for training and off we go to the fields. I need to make sure they know where to go, what fields we are on and make sure everyone is oriented in those first couple days. Our goal here in team administration is to take away any variable or issues that may come up so that the players and coaches only have to focus on the work on the field. All the other details, that’s what I do. But it’s not just me, it’s a big team effort.
