{"id":16846,"date":"2012-11-10T10:08:01","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T15:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=16846"},"modified":"2012-11-10T11:08:09","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T16:08:09","slug":"offseason-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=16846","title":{"rendered":"Offseason Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Revolution midfielder Kelyn Rowe is looking for greater success in 2013 after a “rollercoaster” 2012 season. (Photo: Kari Heistad\/CapturedImages.biz)<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 It was a rollercoaster season for 2012 first round pick Kelyn Rowe. And the shoulder\u00a0harnesses locked\u00a0in before First Kick.<\/p>\n

During the preseason, the 20-year-old rookie scored five goals in six games. Four games into the regular season, he collected his first MLS goal at Los Angeles. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t long before the early odds were on Rowe to run away with rookie of the year honors.<\/p>\n

Then, with the summer months upon him, it all started to fade. Cue the freshman wall \u2013 which Rowe will admit stopped him cold.<\/p>\n

\u201c(In) the fourth and fifth months (of the season), I got tired,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cI took care of my body, but the coaches told me to get some rest here and there. You can\u2019t just go all out.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Rowe adjusted his game. Instead of popping the clutch and throwing it into fifth gear for a full 90, Rowe learned to pace himself. Full-tilt, full-time may work for some, but it\u2019s a difficult credo for a rookie to live by.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to slow down,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing. I\u2019ve always been a guy that\u2019s going to go full-throttle the whole time and give you everything I\u2019ve got and I do that. But now I do that in spurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soccer may not be a marathon, or sprint. Rather, it\u2019s a series of sprints. If timed correctly, they can make a player of Rowe\u2019s ability a deadly weapon the Revolution can brandish against an opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201c(If) you learn to get a couple of touches (and) you get comfortable,\u201d Rowe said. \u00a0\u201cThen you\u2019re going to catch them off guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHUTTLEWORTH THE STARTER IN 2013?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth said he\u2019s had a \u201ccouple of discussions\u201d about his future with head coach Jay Heaps. That should come as no surprise given the keeper\u2019s strong finish in the club\u2019s final five games.<\/p>\n

However, it appears a firm decision hasn\u2019t been made about who will be the starter between the sticks in 2013. And that\u2019s just fine with the fourth-year pro.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the situation, I don\u2019t want anything to be handed to me,\u201d Shuttleworth said. \u201cI want to be given the opportunity because I deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment, Shuttleworth has to believe that he deserves it. A 0.71 GAA and three clean sheets in seven starts suggests he\u2019s ready to be a full-time starter.<\/p>\n

Heaps, for his part, remains coy on the topic, at least publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a pretty darn good keeper,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cWe just have to assess where we\u2019re going with Bobby, but we think he\u2019s got great upside.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIMITING THE RISKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

While some MLS coaches eschew the practice of postseason training for non-playoff teams, Heaps uses it reinforce the culture he\u2019s worked to instill since taking the reins last fall.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s blind to the inherent risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to keep training sharp and competitive, but not overdo it,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cThis is not about beating the guys up. This is about playing and preparing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelyn Rowe’s “rollercoaster” season, Bobby Shuttleworth’s future, and a risk associated with postseason training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/KELROWE1.png?fit=481%2C260","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16846"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16846"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16861,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16846\/revisions\/16861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}