The Whitecaps season was over and it was the final day of training with the players going through some fitness testing. Well after the final players had left the pitch a couple of them returned with a bag of balls to continue their work.
The beginning of the season showed promise for both Bryce Alderson and Ben Fisk as the club looked for both Residency grads to get some playing time in a loan arrangement at the USL-Pro level. Unfortunately injuries played a huge part and both players had a difficult time establishing themselves as regulars for Charleston Battery.
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Alderson, who was entering his second season as a MLS pro, started the year with a nagging knee injury and was unable to establish himself with the Battery, also missing out on international duty with Canada.
<i>"It was a really frustrating season for me"</i> Alderson admitted. <i>"I started off the season with an injury and that caused me to miss all of preseason and Under 20 qualifying, so it was a really frustrating start to the year and to be honest, it didn't get a lot better and it was definitely a year I was looking to forget."</i>
It was a little different for Fisk, who went on loan from the PDL team. He started strong, earning a couple of starts and scoring his first pro goal but eventually the injury bug would bite him too.
<i>"For me it was a pretty frustrating season"</i> echoed Fisk. <i>"The injuries and also not being able to play too many games down there, but we're at the end of it now, so looking forward to next season."</i>
The local product feels that in his limited duty he has shown enough to the Caps to earn another look next season.
<i>"Before my injuries I was on the starting squad and scored a few goals and stuff. I was really happy with how it was going but obviously, the rest kind of happened but as I said, I'm on the other side of that now so I'm happy about that."</i>
Signed as a Generation Adidas homegrown player, Alderson felt he could learn something from his time with Charleston, although disappointed by other aspects of it.
<i>"There's things to take from it and things to learn from it. Not the kind of things that I would like to take from a loan experience. Not what I would have expected.
"Definitely you learn some things I think anywhere you go, regardless of where you end up and the situation, I think there's things you can take from it, so that's what I'll try and do."</i>
He is hopeful that the club's offseason talk of developing more young talent will give him a chance to show what he can do in MLS.
<i>"Absolutely. I think that's something this club's been talking about for a few years now. With a continued push on that and a continued push to develop young players and get them into the first team, that's obviously exciting for any young player, but especially someone like me who's come through the academy and looking to play matches."</i>
Still not signed to a MLS contract Fisk was hopeful with the direction of the club.
<i>"Hopefully, yeah. We obviously don't know who the new coach is going to be. I think the Club want to bring someone in who wants to play youth players and the young players, so that's obviously exciting for players like myself and Bryce."</i>
It was clear that Fisk was going to stay local and train with the <a href="http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2013/01/hpp" target="_blank"><u>High Potential Player (HPP) program</u></a> till preseason training gets underway again in January. Alderson was also focussed on the HPP program but told us that he was hopeful that <i>"there might be an opportunity to go train abroad"</i>.
The Whitecaps confirmed Thursday that the central midfielder will now head to England to train with Championship side Queens Park Rangers' U21 team and he will be eligible to play two games with them during his two week stint.
While the overseas adventure should be beneficial for Alderson, the offseason will be critical for Fisk who has yet to be signed to a deal with the first team having graduated from the Residency in 2012.
However the fact that he is still in the picture says the Whitecaps are still interested in Fisk and it is clear that he is more of a complete player than certain draftees that the team has brought in.
While many in the media continue to talk about young players like Teibert, Koffie and Manneh, players like Fisk and Alderson are key players who need to be developed to become the longterm players that Vancouver needs to succeed in MLS.
Let's hope the new coach sees that himself. He'll just need to watch their self driven extra training sessions to see their commitment.
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