It’s 2010, and the rumors became reality…Orlando was getting a professional soccer team. It was an existing team in Austin, Texas called the Austin Aztex FC. The ownership group thought that Orlando was a better market to take a team from a lower division of professional soccer (USL PRO) and have them accepted into the MLS (Major League Soccer). At the time, there was a very specific set of requirements to get accepted into the MLS, they weren’t just going to add any old team to the league…it had to be right. You had to get your own stadium, not share with another sport. You needed easy airport access, you needed a downtown venue, you needed a fan base that would support, and those were just some of the infrastructure pieces. You also needed to create a fully integrated youth development system that had to meet all kinds of standards. The club knew from the start that in order to continue to get the pieces of this very big jigsaw to fit, the team needed to be successful. Adrian Heath, the team’s head coach, was very focused on building a culture of excellence. Doing well was not going to be enough. The ownership, the management, the players, the staff, all knew that winning was the fastest way to create excitement and support around the team. Obviously, it isn’t the only way, but it is fun to be part of a winning team. It is thrilling to have your team go into the playoffs…and win. A city can start to galvanize around the brand when they are inspiring you with their performances. That was the mentality when they came to town. Coach Heath wanted to bring people together that shared that passion, that level of determination to create a culture of excellence. From the inception of Orlando City SC, SPECTRUM Performance became a partner in this venture. Dan Schuck took the lead as the Head Performance Coach for the team in 2011.
As with any new venture, there are so many moving parts and systems to build, programs to fund, and areas to improve. The Sports Performance Coach was not what you see with teams like Manchester City or Real Madrid. At those places, they have full teams of people overseeing the players health, strength, conditioning, performance, nutrition, and recovery. These coaches, nutritionists, physiotherapists, trainers all meet daily to review player loads, talk about preparation before practice, recovery after practice, training protocols for players not playing in games, treatment protocols for injured players, and all of this is communicated to the coaching staff to plan and adjust training so that each player is optimized for what they need to do each day and week. In the inaugural season, the team didn’t have its own training facility. Yes, they had locker rooms and fields, but not a facility with a weightroom, a training room or hot and cold plunges for recovery, etc. In that first year, we became that headquarters for the Strength and Conditioning component for training. The team would come to SPECTRUM for their performance training. Injured athletes did the Return to Play work offsite with Schuck to get them back so they could train on the field again. This was all part of the building process for the team.
The team came out and set the league on fire. They won the regular season championship, and the playoffs completing the coveted DOUBLE! It couldn’t have been a better way to introduce the team to their new home and garner support and excitement. The team came back and repeated as Regular Season Champions, but lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs. It was clear that the team was performing well, and more and more pieces of the puzzle were coming together. As mentioned before, there were a number of necessary components to check all the boxes to become an MLS franchise. One of those was to have a Developmental Academy that included nutrition guidance and performance training weekly. This is where SPECTRUM was again able to provide value. We had been training entire clubs for over 5 years by this time and we were staffed to oversee the entire Developmental Academy for Orlando City SC. We would work weekly with the youth players, at least 1x per week in person, and often a second time through programming or combined speed, agility, and conditioning sessions. We oversaw the U11/12, 13/14, 15/16, and 17/18 age groups. It was this integrated philosophy with the youth system, that mirrored the USL Professional team’s training environment that was an important component of the club building a foundation for development and a pathway to professional play. This started in the 2013 season and extended through their final season in 2014 before becoming the MLS Franchise we know today.
A typical day for Schuck would be to arrive at the Pro team training grounds around 9am. He would work with individual players on the Prehab and prescribed exercises based on assessments with the players. He would meet with Coach Heath about the plan for the day’s training, provide his plan for the warm up, and activation for the players. After discussing any players in need of extra training that were returning from injury, they would have a plan for any conditioning or speed work and the recovery needs after training. This would usually finish around noon. After returning to SPECTRUM, he would then return to work with different groups from the Develpomental Academy (DA). These sessions included strength work, movement patterns, plyometrics and speed work. Schuck’s goal was to teach these young players how to train their body like a professional. Each age group provided different challenges and needs. As the players grew and were older, the specificity and needs changed. It went from foundational principles of movement, strength, and conditioning to improving aspects of each player’s physical capacity to reach the next level.
As the team entered their final season, all of the pieces were in place. From the youth players to the professionals, the organization was prioritizing a performance culture, both on the pitch and off. The professional team won their 3rd Commissioner’s Cup in 4 years and it was finally time for MLS to announce their next franchises…ORLANDO CITY would become the 21st team to enter the league and that would begin in 2015.
