Green light to hit the pitch

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This article was published 04/06/2020 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After months of Zoom meetings and home workouts, Valour FC talent will officially return to IG Field on Sunday in a limited training capacity.

Provincial and municipal health authorities have given Canadian Premier League clubs, including Winnipeg’s Valour FC, the green light to get back on the pitch. Valour was only a couple of days into their training camp when the league came to a screeching halt on March 9 owing to COVID-19.

But things will look quite a bit different than training camp as a maximum of four players can be on the field at the same time and they must practise physical distancing.

Valour assistant coach and assistant general manager Damian Rocke said this is an important first step.

“We’ll divide the field out and obviously, common sense prevails and the most important thing is to make sure social distancing is respected at all times,” Rocke said.

“So, even though we might have four people there, it’s not that we can get together and do certain normal activities. It’s going to be individualized work so we minimize any possible transmission.”

If you ask Valour midfielder Raphael Ohin, he’ll tell you something is better than nothing.

“We’ve tried our best to be in the best possible shape that we can be in. The online team stuff has been helping a lot,” said Ohin, a Ghana native who moved to Winnipeg several years ago.

“The online training, video workouts three times a week and other exercises that we have to do on our own have been helpful, but I’m very excited to get on the field and practise with a few of my friends in front of the coaching staff.”

Luckily for Ohin, he’s had a Valour teammate under the same roof as him during the quarantine. Solomon Kojo Antwi, a 19-year-old winger from Ghana who signed with Valour in the off-season and arrived in Winnipeg on Boxing Day, lives with Ohin.

“He’s been my training partner, obviously,” Ohin said.

“The past few months we’ve been training together, having some touches with the ball, and actually as I’m talking to you right now, we’re on a bus going to a field.”

There was a time when it looked liked Ohin and Antwi wouldn’t have anything to train for. All signs looked to be pointing at the CPL being forced to cancel their second season. But to the credit of CPL commissioner David Clanachan, the league didn’t throw in the towel. The latest reports indicate the season will be replaced by a tournament that would be based out of a single site. Victoria, the home of Pacific FC, has been linked to being chosen as the host city.

“There’s a lot of rumours going on here and there. You don’t know what to listen to or what to believe,” Ohin said.

“It all comes down to the coaches. Whatever the coaches tell us is final. To be honest, I haven’t really heard from the league or heard what they’re saying. There’s a lot going on social media. We’re the players. We can’t really say much. We don’t know what it’s going to be like or how it’s going to look like.”

Rocke said recent reports are encouraging, but it’s still business as usual for Valour. They’ve done everything they could to make the most of their time away from the pitch and they will continue to make the most out of what they can work with until they get the call from the league.

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“At no stage were we concerned that there was no hope. We’ve just continued to work and prepare the best we can. I think the bigger challenge may be understanding timing of when competition could resume and that is problematic in a way because you have to make sure players aren’t getting fatigued either mentally or physically,” Rocke said.

“It’s been a bit of a balancing act in what’s demanded of the players. But by in large, I think we have a little time here before there is any possible competition, which of course, has yet to be determined, but the same concepts still exist. We’re still optimistic and until we get a definitive answer, we’re just going to keep working along.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.