Fitness at forefront for Dalglish, Rowdies

Posted Mar 10, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Mar 10, 2010 at 03:06 PM

While the players get to grips with the system Coach Paul Dalglish is implementing for the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies, Dalglish’s priorities remain on getting the player’s fitness levels to where they will need to be for the season ahead.

That includes this Friday night’s game against Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas at Pepin Stadium as part of the Tom Fitzgerald Soccer Festival.

“These first three, four week are just fitness,” Dalglish said. “As long as they learn the system, as long as they play the right way, it’s about fitness. We have a seven-week preseason, so we have three weeks to work on getting the style of play right. The first four weeks is about getting the guys fit and having no injuries.”

Part of that fitness routine includes yoga, which Dalglish first participated in when with the Houston Dynamo along with then-teammate and current U.S. International Brian Ching.

“It was a lot harder than what I thought it was going to be but it really helped,” Dalglish said. “It really helped with your flexibility and your balance and your agility. … It strengthens (your stabilizing muscles), it doesn’t just strengthen the power muscles it really works the lesser muscles as well. For me it made me feel a lot more balanced, it made me feel like I was in a lot more control of my body.”

YAMADA ARRIVAL: The Rowdies official twitter feed announced the club is expecting Japanese player Takuya Yamada to arrive in Tampa on Wednesday afternoon and be available for Friday night’s game.

TV DEAL: Bright House Sports Network said on Wednesday that they were hoping to announce their schedule for Rowdies broadcasts by the end of the week. While the schedule wouldn’t allow every Rowdies game to be televised, BHSN is looking into the availability of feeds from other club’s affiliates around the USSF Division II to allow some road games to be broadcast in addition to those home games selected for broadcast.