Spirit Conclude Summer Training Centers

Washington Spirit  |   July 30, 2019
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Boyds, Md., (7/30/19) – After three exciting weeks of training young female soccer players, the Spirit’s summer training centers reached their conclusion on Friday.

The Summer Training Centers were a three-week-long program that focused on developing girls’ technical and tactical skills while also allowing them to establish connections with the professional team.

In between training sessions, participants got the unique opportunity to watch the first team train. The participants learned how professional players train, and then emulated and applied their learning in their own training sessions. 

Following the pro team’s training sessions, the participants often got to interact with the Spirit players. Whether it was getting autographs, asking the players questions about their career, or even racing Spirit goalkeeper, Aubrey Bledsoe, all training center attendees left having created connections with the professional players. 

Participants not only saw how professional players train, but they also got their own experience of professional-level training through sessions run by Spirit assistant coach, Tom Torres. In addition, Torres was joined by the Spirit Pro Team’s High-Performance Director Michael Minthorne and Pro Team Goalkeeper coach Ian McCaldon

Designed to improve the players’ technical skills and tactical awareness, the sessions showed clear similarities to those of the first team. 

Outside of training sessions, participants also spoke with Spirit head coach Richie Burke on what it takes to become a professional player. Through these talks, players learned what they need to do both on and off the field in order to one day reach the professional level. 

After four days of training, it was clear each player had improved on some aspect of their game. Not only had they improved, but they were inspired to do so by the professional team. 

It is that combination of inspiration and desire for improvement that the training centers hope to instill in the next generation of Spirit players.

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