The mental challenges during a life of isolation and quarantine can be just as daunting as the physical ones, as we're all learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Orlando City SC head coach Oscar Pareja is focused on lessening that toll, bringing in motivational speakers to hit home various messages as the Lions wait through the MLS training moratorium. One highlight was Rebekah Gregory, a 2013 Boston Marathon bombing survivor, according to a story penned by Julia Poe of ProSoccerUSA.
“It has been phenomenal for us just to hear these stories now that we have the time, and the players have enjoyed it a lot,” Pareja said. “It has helped the group to understand how blessed we are to have the job we have and being healthy and having our family. I want to look around and recognize the value of the things that before we didn’t value that much.”
The motivational speakers, who come through weekly, have often focused on gratitude. Even as a public health crisis unfolds around them, Orlando's players have their health, families and eventual MLS season return to look forward to.
For more from Poe and how Orlando City’s coping with these unprecedented times, click here.
