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When the Washington Spirit steps onto the field to play a match in perfectly crisp, clean, and pressed kits, you’re looking at the handiwork of the small but nimble Spirit equipment staff and a vision conjured up well in advance.
To the untrained eye, it seems natural: Gamedays offer everything from matching jerseys to warmup gear to training equipment, and everything makes it seamlessly on and off the field. However, this necessitates hours of labor-intensive attention to detail from a team off the field that is critical to the one that fans see on the field.
In fact, Head of Equipment, Jordan Small, Equipment Specialist, Abby Alexa, and Equipment Assistant, Aliya Stubenbord, have already begun planning equipment details for next season, planning and mass ordering every piece of equipment the team could need for 2025. First though, is taking care of business in 2024. To really understand the breadth of equipment work on a gameday, we have to start before the sun even rises.
10-12 HOURS BEFORE KICKOFF:
Bright and early, the equipment staff wakes and begins gamedays at an unlikely place: the training ground. Oftentimes, the mornings of games include training and drills for select players. A rule of thumb: If there are players somewhere, there are equipment folks there, too. They’ll set up and subsequently disassemble training equipment on the pitch prior to running a load of laundry. Following this, their focus turns to loading equipment that the team packed over the previous 48-72 hours onto vehicles that set out for Audi Field.
The equipment staff isn’t able to keep equipment at the stadium and must instead load and unload every item on gameday. The loading process includes gear such as cones, practice dots, balls, and even multiple racks of clothing and kits for all Spirit personnel.
Not to mention, kits are packed very particularly, ensuring the flawless look you see on gamedays. The kit process begins 48 hours prior to gameday, when Small’s team hand steams every inch of each player’s jersey – one of the equipment team’s many obsessions with attention to detail that sets it apart.
5 HOURS BEFORE KICKOFF:
Once the caravan of equipment arrives at Audi Field, everything needs to be unloaded and put into place. Performance, medical, and training materials are first. The locker room is next. Nameplates adorn each locker, and kits are placed in each locker stall. Boots are precisely aligned with socks and shin guards to their side. Warmup jerseys are laid out, also wrinkle-less. There is no stone left unturned: every player has what they need – like fans, players have their preferences and superstitions. Take for instance, Trinity Rodman’s penchant for white socks or the goalkeeper unit eschewing long sleeves for short sleeves.
1 HOUR BEFORE KICKOFF:
The trio then sets up the field for warm-ups and helps facilitate the session: fielding balls, blocking off drill space, and more. After warmups, the race to game time is on. Precision and fine-tuning details are a must, but the equipment team even has an eagle eye for the obvious. Small says that fans would be surprised how many players forget to put on their jerseys.
KICKOFF & GAME TIME:
This is not a time for relaxation. The team of three waits for any emergencies, ready to mobilize at a moment’s notice. This season, they’ve dealt with bloody jerseys needing to be quickly switched out or socks needing to be cut on the fly. For these sudden emergencies, Small keeps a large bag filled with ancillary goods from extra shin guards and duct tape to glue and a sewing kit.
POSTGAME:
The first task is to clean up the bench before the team huddle. After that, Alexa assists the keeper training session while Small and Stubenbord begin the breakdown of the locker room. This means organizing clean and dirty clothes and even stain removing the kits using a toothbrush and spray. Everything the team brought into the stadium must get wrangled and packed back into equipment vehicles that return to the training facility in Virginia.
4 HOURS POSTGAME:
Exhale. The crew can relax. Gameday is over. Though, mere hours later, they are back up again, bright and early just like the day before so the training ground can be set up once again.
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