FCD Juniors prepare for first season together
Hoops one month away from U.S. Soccer Development Academy Season
"The progression has been great," said Pareja, the teams head coach. "Knowing the players, knowing their families and knowing how happy they are with the program is great and we are looking forward to developing those players which is the most important part on our end."
Now just about a month from starting their first season in the Development Academy, the players continue their progression. Part of the development of the players has been stressing the professional aspect of the team, such as training four days a week, using the same locker rooms at Pizza Hut Park, and undergoing the same preseason training regimen as the professionals.
In June, both Juniors teams played their first friendly games against the Houston Dynamo academy teams. The FCD U-16s defeated their U-16 counterparts 3-1, while the U-18s drew with Houston's U-18s 1-1.
Shortly thereafter, a combination of players was chosen to play in the SUM U-17 Cup in Commerce City, Colorado. The FCD Juniors dropped the opener 3-2 to the Columbus Crew, but then tied Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy 1-1, and defeated the New York Red Bulls team 6-1.
The Juniors then had the opportunity to measure themselves up in a scrimmage against the FC Dallas reserves on July 22. Five days later FCD and Houston met again, this time at Pizza Hut Park, with the FCD U-16 winning 2-1 and Houston's U-18s downing Dallas 3-1.
"All of these situations are in place to make them feel like they belong to the professional program," said coach Pareja. "And the other part of the development is trying to give them the opportunity to behave as professionals, which has to come from them; from the food that they eat, to the way that they take care of themselves off the field."
One major aspect of the preseason training involves being one of the first two soccer clubs, along with Texas Longhorns Soccer Club, to work with Baylor SportsCare in implementing a new injury-prevention program. The program, launched this summer, has the objective of decreasing the risk of injury during athletic participation by educating athletes, coaches, and parents on prevention techniques. The initial offering of the program will focus on prevention of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in soccer players.
"We do some stuff we've never done before, different techniques and stretches that focuses on our knees," said U-16 Juniors forward Ruben Luna. "It's an advantage (to learn new training techniques) so we won't have to go through these injuries...that some other players might have by not knowing the stretches were doing."
The program is led by Bill Borowski from Baylor SportsCare, which is located on the west side of Pizza Hut Park. According to Borowski, similar programs have shown to decrease non-contact ACL injuries by up to 82%. Borowski also mentioned that the greatest level of ACL injuries come from the ages of 16-18 and that the program focuses on landing with your feet soft, legs bent and knees in alignment.
"You owe it to yourself and your teammates to stay healthy," said Borowski. "It's not only about just being in shape, but also preventing injuries."
Director of Coaching for FC Dallas Youth and co-head coach of the U-16 Juniors Chris Hayden stressed the importance of gaining good habits sooner rather than later.
"For this age it's really important for players to understand the risk for this injury and it's also just about developing good training habits at a young age," said Hayden. "Usually injuries are recurring where you're continually hurting the same thing so to get into good training habits before the injury happens is important to prevent that recurring injury in the first place."
The Juniors are using all of these different attributes to prepare them for the start of the Development Academy schedule on September 20 at home against current US Youth Soccer National Champions Andromeda Soccer Club.
