D.C. United received an invitation to the Copa Sudamericana this week - their second such nod in the last three years - and while it's another honor for the first and only U.S. club ever to take part in the South American tournament, it also adds yet another competition to what is already one of the busiest schedules in MLS history.
Knowing they would be severely stretched by participation in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, SuperLiga, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and MLS regular season competitions, United have stressed the importance of roster depth and squad rotation since the earliest stages of 2007.
But the weight room and treatment areas deep in the bowels of RFK Stadium play host to another less visible, but equally important, aspect of successfully weathering such an arduous campaign. It's there that the entire squad works to rest, recover and strengthen under the watchful eye of United athletic trainer Brian Goodstein.
"I think coaches are starting to believe in strength and conditioning more," said Goodstein, who joined United after stints with the U.S. U-17 national team and the now-defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny. "You can't just go out there and play soccer every day without lifting to maintain strength. That puts so many miles on your legs - they have to do strength and conditioning to keep themselves healthy throughout the season."
Known around the locker room as "Goody," Goodstein ensures that each player, from teenage rookie to weathered veteran, is given a regimen tailored to his age, position and individual needs.
"One, we make sure of proper nutrition, that they're eating right. The second is, we try to get them up on proper stretching principles, make sure they're stretched after activities. Then we usually try to get a lift in there, a recovery lift to regenerate muscles," he said. "The younger guys, they still have room to grow and work on results and get stronger, and hopefully they can make a name for themselves. So their programs are a little bit more in-depth."
While Goodstein says Clyde Simms, Brian Carroll and Christian Gomez all log plenty of time in the weight room, Troy Perkins has earned a reputation as United's most devoted lifter. The netminder augments his team-assigned sets with a personal regimen partially developed during a 2006 preseason stint with the strength and conditioning staff at Duke University.
"Goalkeepers don't need to go out and run five miles with the field players," said Perkins. "Our position is explosive. It's completely different from a field player and it's really specific. Most of our strength and conditioning comes in the weight room, and agility-wise, it's more athletic movements than just sprinting and running."
Massage therapy, protein shakes and other recovery aids are also made available to the team on particularly demanding days, like the Tuesday practices that tend to be United's longest training sessions. But for all of Goodstein's expertise, experience seems to be the best teacher for many players, who rarely recognize their body's limits until forced to by advancing age.
"Early in my career, obviously it was a complete afterthought," said 10-year veteran Ben Olsen. "I wasn't worried about it. ... But as I get older, it's more that you just need to do it. It's more survival now. You also get the benefit of understanding the body and knowing when you need to back off or when you need to start really focusing on the diet: forcing the carbs in, or hydration in the summer, the supplements and icing and all of that stuff."
Olsen now finds himself instructing his younger teammates on the same lessons he once ignored himself.
"The technology, Goody and our training staff do a good job with that stuff, forcing the knowledge on us," he said. "I wish the young guys would do a better job, because now I'm the old guy trying to tell them to do the right things and eat right. But I did it, and they're going to continue to do it. You do what you can get away with."
Goodstein is also charged with monitoring and rehabilitating those who do pick up knocks, strains and sprains. But the 2004 MLS Trainer of the Year admits to using a decidedly low-tech approach to keep head coach Tom Soehn updated on injured players' status and availability.
"We have a board - there's 'Out' or a question mark," he said wryly. "I leave that board outside his office every day."
With their Copa Sudamericana round-of-16 matchup with Chivas de Guadalajara kicking off in mid-September, the Black-and-Red won't know if they've marshaled their resources adequately until the season's final weeks. But continued success may make that sort of balancing act routine.
"If you have to rest someone for this or that, that's Tommy's deal and that's going to be part of a busy season," said Olsen, "and they're going to continue to be like that - we're going to get busier and busier as we grow in exposure."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
