Los Angeles Blues News Release -- www.bluessoccerclub.com
Saturday, November 12, 2011
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Los Angeles Blues continued their offseason training this week on the natural grass at Fullerton College. With professional teams all over North America having wrapped up their 2011 campaigns, more seasoned veterans accepted the call of Head Coach Charlie Naimo and Associate Head Coach Shayon Jalayer, making for some intense sessions and a significantly improved level of play.
“As the weeks have passed, I think word has spread about us working out, which has attracted better players and raised the standard dramatically,” Jalayer said. “We’re starting to get more guys in who have what it takes to compete at a high level, and that has really helped revitalize the training sessions.”
One of the experienced professionals working out in Fullerton this week was 26-year-old Cuban Erlys Garcia. A mainstay in the Blues backline in 2011, Garcia has already signed a deal to return to the club for the upcoming USL PRO campaign. He has been supportive of the coaches’ decision to kick off training relatively early this year, pointing to several factors, including the positive effect on players’ overall fitness.
“Starting training several months from the season was a great idea, because it has made for a big group of very solid players, something we didn’t have at this point last year,” he said through a translator. “The sessions have been really good and competitive. Hopefully we can keep improving and translate that into a strong 2012. I think I’m at about 50 percent fitness-wise. Working out now will only make it easier for me to return to full fitness and be ready for the new season, because I won’t have to start from scratch.”
As the Blues coaches continue to bring in quality players, the nature of the training sessions hasn’t changed much in recent weeks, despite some greater challenges on the horizon.
“We’re still mostly putting these guys in game situations,” Jalayer explained. “The past few sessions have been a bit strange for us, because we have some scrimmages coming up but haven’t really worked on anything tactical. We’re just extremely busy evaluating players’ overall ability to perform in competitive situations and trying to identify the personnel that will give us the best shot at being successful.”
Naimo and Jalayer also place high hopes on the club’s open combine, likely to be held in January of next year. Stay tuned to www.labluesprosoccer.com for combine details as well as weekly updates on the process that may just result in the emergence of the next Cinderella star à la 2011 Blues top scorer Cesar Rivera!