The Kansas City Wizards and their ownership group, OnGoal LLC, officially christened their new training facility in a grand ceremony Friday afternoon. Insisted upon by Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo when he took the job, the facility is everything he and the players could have hoped for.
"It's amazing. It's nicer than I thought it was going to be," said midfielder Davy Arnaud. "They didn't hold anything back; they gave us everything we needed and more. It's a beautiful facility, and we're glad to be out here for sure."
"It's isolated, it's intimate, and it's a perfect setting to do our job," said Onalfo. "This is going to be a great place for our players to reach their potential and us as a team to reach our potential."
The staff and players have already occupied the facility for three weeks; it is comprised of a 7,000 square-foot main structure and the two immaculately groomed fields, one Bermuda grass and the other bluegrass. It has already paid off in ways other than improving daily training sessions. The fitness room, the well-equipped players' lounge and the privacy of the locker room have created an even stronger team atmosphere.
"The players' lounge is good; guys can hang out after practice, and everyone's not just jetting off back home," said fifth-year player Jack Jewsbury, a frequent competitor in the "vicious" ping-pong matches that often occur. "There are some fun things to do that are good for team camaraderie."
Also contained within is a training room replete with a hydro-room filled with hot tubs, an ice machine for treatments, and whirlpools; massage tables; and an office for head trainer Chet North and his assistant. The crowning jewel for some is the players' boot room wherein the team's shoes are cared for and stored on individual hooks for each player.
"I told the rookies, 'It must be nice to come in your first year and be able to walk into something like this.' All the little things, [the designers have] done right," said Jewsbury.
"If we want to attract [top-quality players], this kind of thing has to happen," said Rob Thomson, the club's director of marketing and communications. "We don't want to be one of the top teams, we want to be the top team in Major League Soccer."
South of the facility are two fields that the Wizards will be maintaining and sharing with the Brookside Soccer Club, composed of recreational teams involving area youth.
"We've developed a relationship with the Wizards where they are going to come out and not only work with us in camps and coaching things but also help finance and help improve some of the fields out here to help the kids have a much better experience," said club president Peter Sloan. "We're thrilled. We've had a couple of clinics already, and they've shown a real commitment to wanting to reach out into the community and be more visible."
The amenities of the facility and the resulting community relationship are representative of the hallmarks of OnGoal LLC, since they arrived in August of last year.
"We hope this is the first of many first-class soccer specific assets that OnGoal LLC and the Wizards participate in within the Kansas City metropolitan area," said part-owner and Wizards president Robb Heinemann.
Allusions were made throughout the ceremony to a coming Wizards stadium. If so, it is sure to be a jewel.
"This is just a practice facility," said Thomson. "So if you can imagine what is going to go into building the stadium, that's kind of what we're looking at."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
