Promotion, Relegation, Recovery

Just when I think I'm done listing the byproducts of postgame interviews on bikes era, another one pops up.

Earlier this afternoon TFC head coach John Carver was talking to the media about the team's locker room, and how it's not big enough to fit everyone on both the senior and developmental rosters.

I found that strange because I remembered that last year the entire team, from Danny Dichio on down to David Guzman, used the same locker room.

But then I remembered: that was last year, and nobody in the media has seen TFC's locker room since then. So I asked Carver if he had changed the locker room layout.

He had.

While promising to show the place to the media sometime soon, Carver assured us that the reconfigured main locker room only had room enough or the senior roster players. The developmental guys — Andrea Lombardo et al — use a locker room nearby.

It sounded kind of harsh, but Carver had a rationale.

Doing it this way, he said, keeps young players motivated. Practice well, play well, earn more playing time and you also earn a spot in the locker room with the big guys. He said that's how he did it back home in England, and thats how they do it now in Toronto.

Promotion and relegation in TFC's locker room.**

(** Borrowed "promotion and relegation" from FAN 590's Nigel Reed, who chimed in with the phrase as Carver explained his locker room system during Thursday's post-practice media scrum)

Defender and team captain Jim Brennan is also familiar with the system. He, too, lived with it in England, and though it might seem divisive on the surface, he doesn't think it hurts team unity.

"It's the same thing everywhere," he said. "If you put everyone in the same dressing room it makes it a bit easy for the young boys because they feel they've made it."

Well if Jarrod Smith hasn't made it yet, he's a little closer.

The lone remaining New Zealand native on TFC's roster recently made the move from the developmental to the senior team locker room. With a goal in his only start of the season, and plenty of hustle in practice, Carver says Smith deserved the promotion.

"I know that doesn't sound like a big deal to a lot of people," Carver said. "But in this setup, it's massive."

Back to Brennan

Emerging from the big guys' locker room to address the media Wednesday afternoon, Brennan took a few swigs from a water bottle containing a chalky orange liquid.

It's called Vitargo, and I've mentioned it here before. Strength coach Paul Winpser has his players drink it after intense exercise. It's full of carbohydrates, and after a long practice or a game Winsper says muscles absorb it like a sponge, speeding up recovery.

Sounds effective, but how does it taste?

Not very good, apparently.

"Like (poop) to be honest," Brennan said.

Except he used a synonym a little stronger than poop.

He kept drinking, though.

The stuff must work.

-- Morgan Campbell

 

Comments

[Kelly]

Nice to see you back, Morgan.

[voislav]

I wonder if senior players feel they made it too, now that the locker room has a big team feel to it.

Did they change the lockers or is they segregation the result of expanding the roster?

[Morgan Campbell]

Again, Carver hasn't yet shown the locker room(s) to the media yet, though he promises to soon. My understanding is that they remodeled the main locker room, so that a space that once held 24, 25, or 26 guys can now only accomodate, say 18. Everyone else goes to the auxilliary room and tries to play their way into a promotion.

[Ted]

is that vitargo stuff commercially available?

[van beuren]

thriving off these behind the scenes articles, keep em coming!

[David Bailey]

Ya, the stuff is out there. It's Swedish. Google "Vitargo" and you'll find it.