BRADENTON, Fla. — Paco Craig’s legs are heavy, and his body’s sore.
“But it’s all for a good cause,” the Louisville City FC defender said after the first of his team’s two training sessions Thursday at the IMG Academy.
Time in Florida is coming to a close for the United Soccer League club, which has made double sessions the norm since traveling south. Training opens with regular stretches and jogging before players break off into “boxes,” a tiring, possession-based drill. The last few days, LouCity has also started establishing attacking principles.
As for the benefits of all this conditioning?
“I think we’ll start to see it as soon as we have a little bit of a rest period when we get back to Louisville,” said midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye. “For sure we’ll see it in our preseason matches. Hopefully we’re fitter and stronger than our opponents, and we can really emphasize what we’re wanting to work on.”
A week from Saturday, LouCity hosts NCAA Division II Young Harris College — alma mater of Craig, Niall McCabe and Ilija Ilic — in a closed-door game at its training ground in Louisville. After three more preseason tests, LouCity starts its season March 25 against United Soccer League rival Saint Louis FC at Louisville Slugger Field.
At IMG, LouCity has access to its own pitch, and players live in a private village. All meals are provided at the facility’s cafeteria on campus — though with Wednesday afternoon off, they were treated to lunch by club chairman John Neace, who stopped in to check on the team.
“You don’t feel like it, but every day we’re getting stronger,” Craig said. “As a unit, we’re looking more and more on the same page. Then maybe after you get a couple days of rest, the body fully heals and we’ll be ready to go.”
After training, it’s typical for LouCity players to head to IMG’s stadium to take in a preseason game. Saint Louis FC, FC Cincinnati, the Ottawa Fury and OKC Energy FC are on campus along with Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire.
LouCity’s own competitions will have to wait one more week.
“After all this hard work,” Kaye said, “I think it’s a reward to play a preseason game.”