Rowdies recuperate with long weekend

Posted Mar 30, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Mar 30, 2010 at 05:13 PM

After their 3-0 victory against the University of Central Florida on Friday night, the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies’ players were glad to have three days to let their bodies recover before they returned to practice on Tuesday.

Likely the happiest was forward Aaron Wheeler, who bore the brunt of a lot of hard tackles in the first half on Friday night. Wheeler said the manner of the game, in which the Rowdies carried the bulk of play, meant he didn’t have time to recover, or take a break, during the game.

“In a normal game, you go and foul and then you get five minutes because maybe they’ll pull up a play on you,” Wheeler said. “It was pretty much us attacking, us attacking, so it was just foul after foul. Needless to say I was pretty sore Saturday and Sunday.”

Recovery from training and games is a key for players, Wheeler saying he’s been spending time by and in the pool during his time off. With an extra day, though, he decided to take a chance to see Lowry Park Zoo on Monday.

Aaron King, on the other hand, has been taking advantage of other opportunities.

“I’m a Colorado boy, so the beach, I love the beach,” King said. “We don’t have beaches back home so usually go to the beach and take it easy, a lot of relaxing, a lot of resting.”

VALENTINO LOAN?: Colorado Rapids defender Rob Valentino was with the Rowdies for practice, but hasn’t yet been officially added to the squad.

The 6-foot-3 defender was drafted with the 13th pick overall in 2008 by the New England Revolution before being traded to Colorado last May. He also earned three caps for the U.S. under-23 National Team.

Rowdies Technical Director Perry Van Der Beck said the two clubs were discussing a potential season-long loan move but that neither side had committed to a deal yet.