My First Training With MYPA

February 23:

Myllykoski is an extremely boring place.  The team had two training sessions today, and still I’ve had a depressing amount of free time with nothing to do.  There’s only so much Netflix and Hulu that a person can watch in his apartment kitchen!  Actually that’s a lie; there is no limit to Netflix and Hulu.  Those sites are amazing.  I love them so much.  In fact, I don’t know how I would have survived living a year in Harrisburg or how I’ll live anywhere in Finland without on-demand movies and tv.  People think that professional athletes are out all the time doing events and expensive dinners, and perhaps those players at the top level do, but most professionals I’ve ever known spend most of their free time at home watching movies or playing video games.  The top 100 rankings of most video games are predominately professional athletes.

When I actually was doing stuff today, I was doing pretty well.  In the morning we did some physical training in the team clubhouse.  It sounds more difficult than it was, mostly yoga movements and ab exercises.  We also did some strength exercises using various weird moves with a partner.  One had my partner run up and jump into me and I had to catch him ten consecutive times.  In another I had to hold a plank position while two teammates did push-ups on my back.  Things like that.  It was unusual but a decent enough workout.

In the afternoon we had the first training with the ball since I’ve been here.  It was pretty fun, as all we did was play 5v5 games then a 20 minute 11v11 intrasquad scrimmage.  My team was 2^nd out of four teams and I performed well in the small sided matches.  In the full sized scrimmage, I played with the reserve team but was very dangerous.  I scored a goal (on a cheeky backheel, no less) and we finished tied 1-1.  As I’ve said with the last two clubs I’ve trained with, I’m definitely good enough to play here.  Whether or not I’ll be offered a contract is a totally different story, I’ve come to realize.

One interesting thing about my time here at MYPA is that I really couldn’t care less about the opportunity here.  The disappointments of Haka and Jaro have caused me to not get my hopes up at all about the opportunity at MYPA.  Even though I’m here as a trialist, I feel almost like I’m not playing for anything at all.  If I get offered a contract, fine.  If not, well then I have options that I’m more excited about elsewhere anyway.  This whole experience has taken an emotional toll on me already and it’s only been three weeks.  I can only imagine how things will be if I indeed get a contract and I’m here for a long time.  Hopefully I will be.

I have training tomorrow (Friday) and a match Saturday.  Maybe my carefree demeanor will be what I need to get a contract?  You never know.  Weirder things have happened.  Til next time.