Dcunited.com caught up with D.C. United and United States Men's National Team goalkeeper Bill Hamid to chat about how camp was going and what he has been up to while in California.
How has training been going?
Bill Hamid: “It’s been going great. It’s a different level, coming in to train with the National Team and to be around all these high quality players—it’s been great. I can definitely grow in this environment.”
What’s the dynamic like with the goalkeepers? You normally go into camp and train behind Tim Howard, so what’s it like with Sean Johnson and Nick Rimando?
BH: “It’s great. They’re both guys that we play against in the League. To play against and with two players in the League, you get to see how they train and build off of things that I can learn from them, and try to make myself a better goalie.”
Did you guys have to do fitness tests?
BH: “Honestly, training is very demanding here, so every training session is like fitness, to be honest with you. So, it’s funny when people ask that because they think it’s relaxed and more technical, but here, it’s technical, but it’s also very demanding on the fitness end of it. You get the best of both worlds.”
What do you during downtime? Do you have a lot of downtime?
BH: “Not really. Our schedule is kind of packed so far with the start of the tournament. In the beginning, it was kind of hectic; it was like an introduction, we got into training, and then there was also gym workouts, then we would have meetings and different things going on with media, whether its photo shoots or video shoots or stuff like that. So, there was a lot going on in the beginning. Now, it’s kind of died down a little bit, but still, our schedule is still a little bit hectic. On our downtime, we really just, we have some games that we play, the pool—I’m at the pool right now—and movies, we go to the movies. Stuff like that when we have a little bit of time. The most we’ve done really is dinner. Guys have gone to dinner and kind of dress down, out of the USA gear, kind of relaxed dinners—that’s really all we’ve done with our downtime.”
So, you said that you guys dress down to dinner, but is anyone the best dressed?
BH:“I wish I could answer that, but I can’t because we have to wear our USA gear all the time. We’ve only had two or three dinners on our own, and it hasn’t been team dinners—you go with like four or five guys. I don’t know, I would say I’m the best dressed.”
What kind of music does everyone listen to?
BH:“Right now the theme of the camp is the Jay-Z album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. Other than that, it’s a lot of dance music, more house music— stuff to get the blood pumping and get us moving a little bit. Some Rhianna, some Justin Bieber. I heard on the bus, someone was listening to Call Me Maybe, earlier, on the loud speaker. It’s been more dance/house music—stuff to get us moving and stuff to sing a long with.”
What was it like watching [Chris] Wondolowski score that hat trick?
BH: “It was great. Wondo took advantage of a team that didn’t mark well in the box. And Wondo, he is great in and around the six and the top of the six. He finds himself in the right spots, and to watch him get his first hat trick and knowing that he just opened his account with the National Team against Guatemala makes it very special for him, and we’re all proud of him and support him.”
Did anyone realize that his name was spelled wrong before the game started?
BH: “No, I don’t think many people realized. We were all in the heat of the moment, and we were all pretty much focused in on the game. So, reading somebody’s name on their jersey wasn’t on our minds, but there was a lot of chit chat about it going on. Once we got back into the locker room after the game, everybody was talking about how his name was spelled wrong and it’s kind of hilarious. Stuff like that happens.”
