On Monday, for the first time in over five years, FC Dallas held a practice that wasn’t led by Schellas Hyndman.
With the long-time coach departed, First Team Coach Marco Ferruzzi is leading the two weeks of post-season training and he says these final practices are all about getting the players ready to come in and put their best foot forward in pre-season 2014, which can’t come soon enough.
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“We’ve been dealing with the transition for almost a couple weeks now, so still it’s a little bit awkward as much as you prepare for it, but we have an agenda to keep as far as practices and testing for the boys,” said Ferruzzi after Tuesday’s training. “So we’ve been focusing our preparation on that so that they leave here on a good note physically giving us some data so we can move forward with them into the next pre-season.”
“We don’t have a game to prepare for or any other type of event, so right now it’s just about the bodies and the minds.”
The Texas-native who was promoted to Hyndman’s top assistant before the 2013 season led the team in a jog around the expansive Toyota Soccer Center in the light training, something that is rarely seen outside of pre-season. In fact, besides the long-time equipment managers, Ferruzzi is about the only person in the locker room who has been around for a coaching change in Frisco.
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There’s no time to reminisce for Ferruzzi and the staff, however, as the next two weeks represent important testing vital to the team’s sports science and fitness department.
“Before we get to the off-season, we have to complete this season, this cycle. That means they have to go through physical testing and gathering data we got at the beginning of the year and testing them again,” said Ferruzzi. “So we’re preparing the guys and making sure that the guys who need a little more recovery have a specialized plan so they can complete those tests and leave with more data besides just their performances throughout the year. So we see where their body’s at now and what it’s going to look like when they come back in January.”
