As snow falls and the bitter cold consumes Columbus, Crew SC has flown south to Lakewood Ranch, Florida for its preseason training camp. Although the Black & Gold’s 2015 campaign ended just seven weeks ago, the beginning of a new season is upon us.
“It’s a little shorter than usual, but you’d rather have a short offseason than a long one. If you have a long one, that means the season before didn’t go so well,” Captain Michael Parkhurst says. “I feel rejuvenated, I feel ready to go; so as one of the older guys on the team, if I feel that way, I hope the younger guys do too.”
The veteran defender celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday and says he looks at preseason differently now that he is older. Despite the collectively-dreaded sprints to return to peak fitness, Parkhurst says he enjoys this time with his teammates.
“I really do enjoy being with the guys, creating that chemistry, that comradery, putting the work in together, setting the tone for the season as far as the tenacity of training, the technical aspect as well, the little things that go into building a team into what it needs to be,” he says.
Parkhurst’s attitude reflects that of Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter, who says these next six weeks of training camp lay the foundation for the club’s overall success in 2016.
“We’ve had some excellent preseasons in the past,” Berhalter says. “When I look at the last two years, the focus, the work rate, everything has been there, and it really lays the foundation for what you want to do in the season.”
- WATCH: Preseason preview
The Crew SC boss breaks down preseason into two periods: focusing on the team’s style of play, which he defines as “refreshing guys on what we’ve been doing and what we want to improve on for next season,” followed by the “competition phase.”
Crew SC’s additions during the offseason, including Corey Ashe, Emil Larsen when he arrives, and its five SuperDraft picks, will have to be introduced to the Black & Gold’s style of play. But fortunately for Crew SC, 20 players on the roster are returners from last year, including all 11 starters from the MLS Cup final.
“We know the way we want to play,” goalkeeper Steve Clark says. “We know all of our teammates, besides some of the new guys, so it’s not a new team going in. We’re just going to continue the work that we’ve been doing, we know what’s expected of us, and the task is always the same: we want to get better and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Clark has played the last two seasons under Berhalter, starting every MLS match for Columbus. Excited for the team to be back together and the opportunity for growth, he says the Black & Gold haven’t peaked and are embracing the challenge to improve.
“We want to perform, we want to get better, we want to continue what we’ve started and I would say that’s probably one thing you’re going to find from this team—that’s hunger.”
That hunger stems not only from the desire to be successful, but also from the discontent felt after the 2-1 loss to Portland in the MLS Cup final. There’s no question, the Black & Gold are eager for another run at it.
“I think we’ve proven that it’s not just saying stuff now,” Parkhurst says. “We know what it takes to get there, we know that we’ve got a team capable of getting there, but we’re going to need to play at an even higher level than we did last year because every team out there is getting better.”
