Jeff Larentowicz has been part of one team that won an MLS Cup, and another that played in the league finals three consecutive years.
He said one of the keys to those teams, and something he saw developing in the first few days of preseason training with Atlanta United, which he joined as a free agent, was chemistry, that elusive and nebulous gel that can turn teams with good talent into great teams, or if its missing can turn a group of talented players into a poor team.
“It seems we’ve got that going from the start,” said Larentowicz, who has 324 appearances in MLS since 2005. “Obviously, things change when points are up on the board. For now, it’s good.”
That’s exactly what Atlanta United President Darren Eales, technical director Carlos Bocanegra and manager Gerardo Martino hoped would happen when the decision was made to sequester the expansion team away from friends and family for its first preseason camp.
The team has signed more than 25 players, of which only a handful of pairs (Larentowicz and Michael Parkhurst at New England; Harrison Heath and Mikey Ambrose at Orlando; Tyrone Mears and Chris McCann were teammates at Burnley; Alec Kann and Jacob Peterson Sporting Kansas City and Kann and Larentowicz were teammates at Chicago) have been teammates on a club before.
There’s a lot they don’t know about each other, and a lot they may need to know if the club hopes to become the first expansion team to make the MLS playoffs since Seattle in 2009.
“This will be a good setting for them to build trust and get to know each other,” Martino said during the first week of camp.
Eales said when he Bocanegra first began to talk with Martino about possibly becoming the team’s manager, the Argentine wanted a training camp environment during which he could have as many training sessions as possible. The team has had more two-a-day sessions than single-session days since camp started on Jan. 24.
“It’s almost like greenhouse, having to artificially grow that chemistry,” Eales said.
The original plan was to use the home of the Falcons in Flowery Branch as the site. But, Eales and Bocanegra happily say that plan changed because of the team’s run to the Super Bowl.
The team instead moved its training camp to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. for two weeks. The players stayed in villas on campus and spent most of their days learning Martino’s style and personality, that of his assistants, and that of each other.
Bocanegra knows the importance of his chemistry and training camp from his storied career as a professional that included playing for teams in the U.S., Scotland, England, Spain and France. Players were grouped in the housing to try to get to know each other. Andrew Carleton and Chris Goslin, the team’s first two Homegrown Players whose playing time will likely come as reserves if at all, were in a group with Hector Villalba, the team’s first Designated Player who will likely start.
“When you are here all day, every day for two weeks you get to know the good, bad and ugly about everyone,” Bocanegra said. “You get a feel for what kind of people they are, what kind of personalities they have, their tendencies off the field as well. It helps to develop chemistry in the locker room, as well.
“These are the little thing that develop within the team. It’s really about getting to know each other.”
Chemistry values communication. Because Martino is learning English, he will give his instructions during practice in Spanish. An assistant standing in the middle of the field will repeat the instruction in Spanish. Two more assistants, one at either end of the field, will repeat them in English. Some words, “Bueno,” need no translation. The coaching staff has started English lessons. The players who don’t know English will start learning when the team returns. Though, because of the roommate situations, some may already be learning. Carleton and Goslin, whose primary language is English, said they are trying to teach Villalba, whose primary language is Spanish, about college basketball.
“You come in and you are curious,” Larentowicz said. “You don’t know what to expect from each other, the staff, the preseason in general, from a lot of the guys, from MLS. We are starting to get over the hump and figure out who we are.”
The chemistry experiments aren’t just limited to the field.
Eales said they have planned on different speakers to come and talk to the team about different topics when they report to Flowery Branch. Owner Arthur Blank has already addressed the team and will likely do so again. Steve Cannon, the CEO of the Arthur M. Blank Group, will discuss his journey from West Point, the Army and as CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA. Lastly, Eales is hoping that Falcons coach Dan Quinn will have time to share the Falcons journey to the Super Bowl and how his team came together.
Lastly, happy wife is supposed to lead to a happy life.
Eales’ wife and Bocanegra’s wife are starting a family association to help the spouses and girlfriends of the players feel comfortable in the city and with the challenges of moving, and with the team. Eales said at least one training session a month will be open for the family members to come and watch.
“We are trying to make players feel a part of the team, but their families as well,” Eales said.
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