It's been a long time coming, nearly 40 years quipped Bobby Lenarduzzi, but Vancouver Whitecaps finally have a training facility to call their own, albeit not a permanent one just yet.
Phase one of the new National Soccer Development Centre will officially open tomorrow, as the players head back to Vancouver for their last days of training before the new season begins.
It's a facility long overdue in the city, but the Caps will have to wait around another two years before they get to see their permanent finished article of a state-of-the-art fieldhouse and five new, refurbished or improved soccer fields (three grass and two artificial turf).
The overall project is projected to cost around $32.5 million, with the Whitecaps contributing $15 million of that.
The players haven't seen the facility themselves yet, but media were given a sneak peak this afternoon and from what we saw, the guys are going to love their new surroundings.
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It certainly beats what they were using at Burnaby Lake and Lenarduzzi is very happy with what the Caps have in this first phase, as he told those present.
<i>"I'm very, very excited and I know that our players also be very excited. They haven't seen it yet and we're looking forward to unveiling it to them.
"The players will come in tomorrow for the first time and get a feel for it. Just before the home opener I think is a real nice lift for them. This is the place where they'll spend most of their time.
"This will be the first step and over the course of the next couple of years we'll be excited to see the evolution of the permanent facility."</i>
Lenarduzzi added that the club were <i>"laying down some roots and doing the kind of things you associate with good clubs."</i>
The Caps new facility is currently located beside the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre and aims to meet all the needs of the players as they train up at UBC. Phase one is roughly 4,000 square feet in size.
As the players come through the front entrance they are met with a boot drop rack and three kit bins where they will dump their gear to get laundered every day.
From there they head into the locker area, with lockers lining all four sides of the room and televisions high up on the walls to play game tape and tactical videos.
The keepers are all together against one wall, and this includes a space for Sean Melvin at the moment.
The rest of the lockers are running in pretty much numerical order, but there are a few quirks here and there. It means that Kenny Miller is beside Darren Mattocks, to work out attacking plans, and Korea and Japan relations are cemented with YP Lee being beside Daigo Kobayashi. Miller also has the pleasure or having the sound system right beside him!
At the moment there's lockers laid out for all of the trialists as well. The name plaques are easy to change, and with rosters needing to be finalised on Friday, you can be sure that there's going to be some movement in there. Nigel Reo-Coker is such a recent signing he doesn't have locker laid out yet but this is being built this afternoon.
The coaches have a separate locker room area on the other side, along with offices, technical rooms and a meeting room.
At the back of the locker room is the treatment area with tables, two bikes, exercise balls, two hot tubs and medical supplies.
The players also have a lounge to relax in before and after training and the club are looking to keep the players happy and relaxed for as long as they want to stay at the facility during the day, with snacks and lunches available to them.
<i>"The players will have a place to ideally get to earlier than they normally would, because they're coming to a place where they can sit down and relax, and after training the same would apply"</i> explained Lenarduzzi. <i>"We want to make it feel as much like home as possible. Everything that we have here is exactly what you would need."</i>
The lounge includes an eating area, full kitchen with smoothie makers and proteins and supplements, couches, big flat screen television, laptop stations and a media area. The players don't have to wash up but they do have to clear up after themselves!
The facility has a number of simple motivational messages along the walls, including the Caps three core values - "Unity. Winning. Honour."
There is also a great new mission statement - "To be a champion club on and off the soccer pitch".
The club hope that all of these statements that they have recently launched will be with them for at least the next decade.
There is no private gym in the facility but the Thunderbird Arena next door has a large gym and the players will be using that for the time that they are in the facility.
Although the facility is currently just for the first team, the plan is to move the Residency program there in the fall.
But enough of my descriptions here's some photos of the new facility for you to see for yourself:
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You can find more photos on our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aftncanada/sets/72157632856121985/with/8508912074/" target="_blank"><u>Flickr</u></a> account. You can also view a slideshow <a href="
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