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The Metropolitan Community College-Blue River men’s soccer team concluded its first week of training camp Friday morning at the Hidden Valley Sports Complex in Blue Springs with a huddle that broke with a cohesive shout of “Igraj jako!”
The Macedonian phrase, which means play hard, became the Trail Blazers’ motto last season and the squad has kept the refrain going through 2011’s first week of practice.
“You can’t always control the level of competition you’re playing,” Blue River men’s coach David Owens said. “You can’t control whether you’re better than them or they’re better than you. But you can control how hard you play and how hard you work in the game and that’s what we want to see in all athletes.”
Since Monday, the team has met for two sessions starting at 7 a.m. And although it’s Owens’ first look at the group, he’s already impressed.
“Especially in the heat we had, these guys worked hard, didn’t complain and put it out there,” Owens said. “That in itself speaks well. If the team is willing to work hard and they have talent, which we do, then you can achieve even greater things.”
Greater things for the Trail Blazers would mean a berth in the NJCAA national tournament. They fell just short of that last season, losing a 3-0 decision to Lincoln College in the Central District championship and finishing with a 12-8 record. Building off last season’s Region 16 title is now the primary focus.
“Coming out of high school I had a lot of personal goals,” said sophomore Yacine Hamchaoui, who was named The Examiner’s Player of the Year during his senior season at Van Horn High School in the fall of 2008. “But my mentality has changed. Right now, it’s as a team for us to win and go to nationals. That’s my only goal.”
Hamchaoui, who sat out last season, is one of just a small handful of players with NJCAA experience. Of the 28 players who attended the camp’s first week, 20 were newcomers.
But freshman Cody Brady, a 2011 Blue Springs High School graduate and the 2010 Examiner Player of the Year, said he doesn’t see unfamiliarity being a problem.
“Everyone seems to be a real hard worker,” Brady said. “We’ve got some pretty good chemistry going right off the start. Everyone’s got pretty good skill. Even the young players just coming in like myself have all been around each other growing up, so we all kind of know each other pretty well.”
The Metropolitan Community College-Blue River men’s soccer team concluded its first week of training camp Friday morning at the Hidden Valley Sports Complex in Blue Springs with a huddle that broke with a cohesive shout of “Igraj jako!”
The Macedonian phrase, which means play hard, became the Trail Blazers’ motto last season and the squad has kept the refrain going through 2011’s first week of practice.
“You can’t always control the level of competition you’re playing,” Blue River men’s coach David Owens said. “You can’t control whether you’re better than them or they’re better than you. But you can control how hard you play and how hard you work in the game and that’s what we want to see in all athletes.”
Since Monday, the team has met for two sessions starting at 7 a.m. And although it’s Owens’ first look at the group, he’s already impressed.
“Especially in the heat we had, these guys worked hard, didn’t complain and put it out there,” Owens said. “That in itself speaks well. If the team is willing to work hard and they have talent, which we do, then you can achieve even greater things.”
Greater things for the Trail Blazers would mean a berth in the NJCAA national tournament. They fell just short of that last season, losing a 3-0 decision to Lincoln College in the Central District championship and finishing with a 12-8 record. Building off last season’s Region 16 title is now the primary focus.
“Coming out of high school I had a lot of personal goals,” said sophomore Yacine Hamchaoui, who was named The Examiner’s Player of the Year during his senior season at Van Horn High School in the fall of 2008. “But my mentality has changed. Right now, it’s as a team for us to win and go to nationals. That’s my only goal.”
Hamchaoui, who sat out last season, is one of just a small handful of players with NJCAA experience. Of the 28 players who attended the camp’s first week, 20 were newcomers.
But freshman Cody Brady, a 2011 Blue Springs High School graduate and the 2010 Examiner Player of the Year, said he doesn’t see unfamiliarity being a problem.
“Everyone seems to be a real hard worker,” Brady said. “We’ve got some pretty good chemistry going right off the start. Everyone’s got pretty good skill. Even the young players just coming in like myself have all been around each other growing up, so we all kind of know each other pretty well.”
On an adjacent field, the MCC-Blue River women’s squad was also conducting its training camp with a bit more experience under its belt than the men’s team. But like the men’s squad, the primary focus of the first week wasn’t so much on strategies and in-game intricacies, but simply on getting in shape and building chemistry.
“We’re starting early, sacrificing together, kind of hating life together and going through some pain together,” Trail Blazers women’s coach Brad Childers said. “It’s just part of the bonding process. This group of young ladies is exceptional. Primarily the sophomore class.”
That 11-player sophomore group, nine of which played last season, has Childers thinking a special season is very possible in 2011. The Trail Blazers finished 11-3 last year, but a 2-0 loss to Maple Woods in the Region 16 semifinals left a bitter aftertaste to an otherwise great season.
Childers said his players have already pointed to that painful memory, unprompted, as a source of motivation.
“Whenever we’re out here running and I feel like I’m about to die, I just keep thinking we lost to Maple Woods last year and it’s not going to happen again this year,” said sophomore Megan Codilla, a 2010 Blue Springs South graduate.
Childers noted that it’s rare for a junior college to return a class as large and as accomplished as his sophomore core and Megan’s twin sister and teammate, Courtney Codilla, referred to her teammates as “her second family.”
Childers expects that unity to be the team’s strength this season.
“They’ve spoiled me,” Childers said. “... They immediately bonded together, they’re crazy about each other, they play so hard for each other, they push each other, they make each other better people. It’s an unbelievable class.”
