Heaps Sees Benefits From Short Offseason
- Updated: February 4, 2015
Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com
With only 45 days between his club’s final match and the start of preseason camp, one might expect a head coach to lament the lack of rest afforded to his squad. But Jay Heaps isn’t complaining.
Typically, Heaps and his staff spend much of the winter building cohesiveness, and getting players accustomed to each other’s tendencies. Early on, though, it’s become clear that won’t be as much of a concern.
“The good thing about having a short offseason is the strength of the tactical awareness,” Heaps told the media via conference call on Tuesday. “We left the season off at a really good place, and that’s carried on, so we’re a little bit ahead in that regard.”
To that end, Heaps has employed done different with his lineups this winter. Instead of fielding mix-and-match units comprised of starters, substitutes and trialists, the fourth-year head coach has employed distinct looks for each half of the Revolution’s first two preseason scrimmages.
The first-half lineups in each match have been comprised largely of starters and seasoned substitutes while the second-half squad is a less-experienced XI made up of younger reserves and trialists.
The idea behind the distinct lineups appears to be two-fold. With the first-teamers, the objective is to continue to build the chemistry, especially at a key spot like center back, where Andrew Farrell and Jose Goncalves are working on strengthening their fledgling partnership.
Right back is another position under scrutiny this winter. Newcomer Jeremy Hall has seen a total of 134 minutes at the spot, and it appears that Heaps is trying to get a long, hard look at a player who’s spent the bulk of his career as a midfielder.
But building relationships and gathering information on areas of concern don’t appear to be the only reason why Heaps has used two largely autonomous units.
“Fitness is really important,” Heaps said. “Our strength and conditioning coach Nick Downing is vital to that, and then we’re trying to get everyone up to speed on sharpness as well.”
Through the first two scrimmages, starters, substitutes and trialists alike have each gotten a total of 85 minutes, a noteworthy stat considering that the coaching staff typically spreads out playing time during the early part of the preseason schedule.
“We’re a little bit behind from where we were last year just in terms of overall fitness,” Heaps said. “We have plenty of time to build that and it’s really important that we have this opportunity here in Casa Grande.”
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