Happy Black History Month! It’s an important month every year, but perhaps even moreso in 2021. Do what you can to take some time to learn more about how the vital contributions Black people have made to our country and what we can all do to strive for equality going forward. Here’s a great list of books to read as a start! If you want to go further, sign up to volunteer with the Louisville Urban League, ACLU of Kentucky, or Black Lives Louisville.
LouCity starts unusual preseason
Today’s also the first official day of training camp for both Louisville City and Racing Louisville! I got a chance to talk to John Hackworth at last weekend’s OPSM Combine about how preparations were going in 2021. Since City’s inception, the team has always spend the first two weeks of the preseason at IMG in Bradenton, Florida doing two-a-day practices and a bunch of fitness. Given that this year’s USL season doesn’t start until May 1(ish), Hack & Co. now have nearly three months to do what they used to do in about six weeks.
They’ll also be doing it here in Louisville, as the club has built training fields for Louisville City and Racing Louisville Academies with both natural grass and turf surfaces that. The grass fields aren’t ready yet, but the turn surface can be used year-round. Preseason opens today on the grass fields at Thurman-Hutchins.
Hackworth said that he and his staff are taking the opportunities the bigger preseason presents in phases. Phase 1 will occupy most of February, and will be an opportunity “for us to work on ourselves.” Training will be once per day, with some emphasis on individual improvement. Hackworth, Danny Cruz, and several players have said in the past that it’s imperative that players show up to preseason ready to go, rather than working themselves into shape. I don’t imagine that’s changed for this season, so perhaps this longer run-up will lead to even better optimization for each player.
What Phases 2 and 3 look like is a little bit up in the air. Normally, City plays a few friendlies with MLS teams in Florida, followed by some games against college teams when they get back to Louisville. However, MLS hasn’t even begun preseason yet, and might not any time soon if the owners lock out the players union. The two sides are in some protracted talks about a new collective bargaining agreement that isn’t going particularly well. These talks hopefully don’t have a negative impact on the USLPA CBA that is reportedly nearing completion.
In any event, Hackworth said it was his hope that City would be able to play friendlies against local teams like Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Nashville during Phase 2.
Phase 3 is reportedly to be used to put “the finishing touches on physical conditioning” leading into the season. If you divide up the preseason by the amount of time for each phase, which makes some sense, that leaves nearly all of April dedicated to conditioning. I don’t know whether that’s actually what will happen, but if it is, that’s a lot of time for running. The good news, regardless, is that the guys should be in great shape when the season actually gets here.
At the moment, City has 22 players on the roster, including Elijah Wynder. It doesn’t appear, however, that Wynder will be able to join the team any time soon, as he just had surgery for a serious leg injury he suffered just over a week ago. Fortunately, OPSM held a player combine at City’s practice facility over the weekend with about 150 players, and the City training staff had a chance to evaluate those players and make invitations to join the team for preseason. There are probably other players that have been invited to train that weren’t at the combine, also, as is often the case in preseason. We probably won’t know who those players are any time soon, but hope springs eternal.
Racing begins first-ever preseason
I know a bit less about what Christy Holly’s preseason plans are, or what players are involved in it. I do know that Racing’s preseason will be a bit more normal in terms of timeline, as the NWSL 2021 Challenge Cup is set to begin on April 9.
Unlike last year’s Challenge Cup, this event won’t take place in a bubble, but rather at clubs’ home stadia. That means Racing supporters will get to see the team live and in the flesh in less than 60 days! Maybe! It’s all very exciting.
Racing’s roster is also far from finalized, per a very reliable source: my eyes, when they look at the existing list of players. As the club begins preseason today, Christy Holly will likely be taking a look at how the pieces he’s assembled so far work together, and what areas need some reinforcement. We can also expect a lot of trialists to be involved in Racing’s first-ever preseason, most of which we’ve probably never heard of.
I also hope to hear some news about Holly’s coaching staff soon. Thabane Sutu is back in Louisville and has been coaching for Racing and City’s academies. He would certainly be a good fit as goalkeeper coach. Otherwise, I have no idea about assistants, operations people, or anything else yet. Watch Racing twitter for more, is my advice.
Preseason is here!
