USL Phoenix Rising FC

Letters from Abroad: Carl Woszczynski Begins Training In England

October 31, 2016 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Phoenix Rising FC News Release


Hey United fans! I hope you're all doing well and having a relaxing offseason. I know everyone is champing at the bit to get 2017 started and so am I! To better prepare for the 2017 USL season, my wife and I decided to take a bold step and move to England for two months. She is the VP of Sales for an up and coming jewelry company called Frasier Sterling Jewelry, and is using the time to work on expanding the brand to Europe. I will be using the time to get in some off-season training. Thanks to Arizona United assistant coach Marc Bircham, I've been fortunate enough to train with Millwall Football Club for two and a half weeks of training. Upon arriving in the UK, my wife, Sam, and I took a couple days to get acclimated and find our bearings. Sam was actually born and raised in London with the majority of her family still living here, so we luckily have an apartment in Canary Wharf to call home base while we are in England. My grandmother was also born in London, so this isn't my first visit. Since we've been here before, we are trying to skip the more touristy things and really get out and explore all of the different neighborhoods of London. I was also lucky enough to go to two games in our first week here, both EFL Cup Games. I watched Arsenal take on Reading and West Ham play Chelsea. Arsenal didn't have much problem with Reading, and it was an amazing atmosphere to watch West Ham upset Chelsea in a big London derby match!

In addition to sight seeing, I also just finished up my first few days training with Millwall, and it has been a great experience so far. I was amazed at how nice their training facility is. Their ground features four full grass fields, all in pristine condition. The goalkeepers also have an area of around 40 by 60 yards to dive around and tear up on their own! The first team and Reserves/U23s each have their own locker rooms and there is a training room and weight room big enough to accommodate everyone. There's also a full kitchen where players can have a hot breakfast and lunch to eat before and after training, with a menu that changes daily. Training has been going well so far. As most of you know, soccer is the main sport in England, and it's really a lifestyle here. Most of the players begin playing at academies from age eight or nine. By the time they're about 15 until they are 17, they receive scholarships (sort of like a college scholarship in the U.S.) to remain in the academy, and then can become full professionals by age 18. So they have been trained their whole lives to fight for that professional contract at 18, and it shows. The intensity of the training sessions is 100 percent from start to finish from every player, and if someone isn't performing up to standard, they hear about it from the technical staff. It's great to see the passion from all of the players to be the best they can be. Every day, the training staff must send players back to the locker room because they've been on the training pitch for too long after practice. That's what happens when you've been fighting for a spot on the team, and your livelihood, from a very young age.

I've fit in very well with the goalkeeping group. Kevin Pressman is the goalkeeping coach, who played over 500 career games, including around 250 Premier League games with Sheffield Wednesday. It is great to hear some of his wisdom and little points he makes on different things from his game experience. Millwall's two first-team goalkeepers are both young (23 and 21) and are at a very high level for their age. The 23-year old was voted Team MVP last season. There are also two U23 and Academy goalkeepers that train with us and definitely hold their own. I've had a great time over here so far, and hopefully will continue to do so. As I said, it has been a great experience on all fronts, from the training to the opportunity to really live in another country for a couple of months, and really make the offseason productive. I also really look forward to getting back to Arizona in January and getting back to work with the team. I have a feeling good things are coming in 2017 for Arizona United. I will check in with you all next week. Until then, Walk United! Carl Woszczynski You can follow Carl's adventures on Twitter at @cwoz1, or on Instagram at @carlwoz

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