TicketsAug. 17, 2011
By Jeremy Powers
The football team at the University of Cincinnati relies on its preseason trip to Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center in West Harrison, Ind., to become closer as a team and have extra preparation for the upcoming season.
For men's soccer coach Hylton Dayes, the second annual trip to the Athletes in Action Complex and Retreat Center in Xenia, Ohio, means that the team will use their own version of Higher Ground to improve their chances during the upcoming season, which begins on the road at Western Michigan on Saturday, August 27.
The team will be bunking up together for five days of training and team bonding before competing in their final preseason match with the Cleveland State Vikings in Cleveland on Saturday.
"We are going off campus for four or five days to train, to do some team building activities, and just to continue to prepare for preseason," Dayes said. "It allows us to be in an environment where the distractions are limited."
With the emergence of 10 freshman among 14 newcomers vying to become contributors this season, the Bearcats trip to Xenia bodes well for a team looking to prove wrong its critics who tabbed them fifth in the preseason BIG EAST polls. Last season Cincinnati was tied for seventh in preseason voting before finishing second in the Red Division.
"We did this last year and we feel that this trip benefits the team," Dayes said. "At AIA we have the ability to put upper classmen with freshman to room together or players with different positions together."
One of the perks of UC from a student's perspective is the easy accessibility of Gettler Stadium's track to accomplish individual workouts. This however can be a distraction for the soccer team who is looking to improve on their semifinal appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament last season. AIA gives the team more privacy with less distraction alongside a new setting that helps break up the monotony of being on campus until classes begin on September 22.
"When you're at AIA there is nothing else around, so you can train and not have to worry about people running around the track," Dayes said. "It's isolated and there are less distractions."
Redshirt junior goalkeeper and captain Joey Barnard looks at the time spent at AIA as good team building experience. Alongside the good food, great facilities, and great stories that surface from AIA's rope course and other activities, Barnard, Dayes, and the team still hold an all-business attitude immersed in the fun of these five days.
"There is always a good laugh and a good story from a couple of the activities, so it is a great way for guys to get to know each other and be close off the field as well," Barnard said. "It is fun but it is still a lot of business."
As a captain, Barnard is a player that leads by example. Dayes spoke to the importance of having a goalkeeper as a captain. Barnard who is battling for the starting spot sees the whole field as a goalkeeper, demonstrates good leadership, and knows a lot about organizational skills - exactly what Dayes wants in not only a captain, but also a starting goalkeeper.
"I think a goalkeeper as a captain is good," Dayes said. "It is a position that certainly demands a certain amount of leadership and organizational skills, but it has to be someone who the team feels is a leader and the team actually selected Joey as one of the captains."
Barnard acknowledges that this year's trip to AIA will be a little bit different than last years due to the new crop of players on the squad. Dayes' mindset of playing the best talent at all times may result in many of those newcomers starting when the first whistle is blown in Kalamazoo. AIA should help those players become acclimated to the team if they have not been already.
"There are not as many guys that are familiar with everyone on the team as they were last year," Barnard said.
The team will head up I-71 from Xenia to Cleveland immediately after their stay at AIA. Gaining a winning result against Bowling Green on Monday night in their preseason opener, Barnard wants to see nothing but progress when the Bearcats take the field against the Vikings.
"The next few days is about playing as a team and getting that down," Barnard said. "Really what we need to do over the next couple days is just make progress and know what we want to do as a team."