With the current 2020 MLS season on pause, the New York Red Bulls’ coaches, staff and players have no choice but to train from home. This will be a time for them to try new things, but to also stay active and ready for when everything returns to normalcy.
Head Coach Chris Armas shared with us what he has been up to in recent weeks:
What are you doing with the time available?
"In these last few weeks, there's obviously a lot of different time slots to fill and time to occupy. For me, there’s really trying to get a balance of work and family, then within that there's different types of work and different family members."
Family
"First with my family, you know, playing a little basketball with my kids. I have a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old boy, so you know, they're not always asking those questions, right? ‘Hey dad, let's play, let's play?’ So I've taken advantage of that type of time with my sons, even at night, watching some more TV with them and showing them some of the work that I'm working on. With my wife, it's been a really good time spent at home. We’re watching a couple of episodes from Netflix, which I've never, you know, I never really have the time or make the time to do that in terms of that type of TV. But yeah, lots of good time with family and even playing cards at night with my mother in law, that's usually her social life, you know, with her friends. So now we're taking their place, so it's been a lot of good time with the family."
Talking with players
"With work, there's obviously so many different things to be thinking about, first and foremost, checking in with the players, making sure they're okay, making sure they have what they need. Do they have the right amount of food and water and all the essentials? How’s their frame of mind? How’s their mental well-being right now in this difficult time? So it's a lot of phone calls, following up with staff, who’s following up with the players. You know, checking in with the guys, hearing their voices, seeing them on video."
Coaching staff
"Yeah, and then there's the staff, you know, regular meetings with the staff, checking in with them, making sure that they're okay, and that we're all together and we have a good plan. There's been a lot of planning going on. Planning on the season, planning on tactics, planning on some different formations we could use, you know, doing a little self-analysis of our team in the first couple of games of the year. What has gone well and where can we improve become some of the things that we're working on.
"To take it a step further, we've done a lot of individual video sessions. Every single player has been involved in these online video sessions, critiquing a few different aspects of their game, showing them some footage of their own performance, mixing in some top performances around the world from different positions. It's been a good way to move guys forward, we think and also to maintain the connection, the human connection between staff and players. There's been unit meetings, defenders all together, attackers all together, and goalkeepers, where we bring the group together a little bit and look at a few different ideas and different themes. As a staff, we've looked at some different formations and analyzed and critiqued, seeing how and when and why we can apply those during the season. You know, everything we've done is with the idea of ‘When we get back, will it help us win?’ This is guiding our activity every day, and it's been really beneficial in helping us stay focused. The last thing is really trying to make sure that the guys physically are where they need to be. Tony Jouaux, our fitness coach, along with Adam Rotchstein, they’re monitoring the progress every day, and from the coaching standpoint, we just try to chime in to see you know, how we can keep it fresh for the players. Is it the right balance? And we've done an excellent job and really our strength and conditioning coaches have done an amazing job keeping the guys’ workloads right on point. So a lot of different things are going on."
How are you staying safe and in shape?
"I've listened to the mandate. I've been home for the weeks, went to the supermarket once and bought a bunch of things, but you know, I'm working out every day. I get up early, get a workout in, physically and mentally. It's important for me to stay sharp and stay fit."
Message to the supporters:
"I really hope that you, all your family members and friends are safe. Please stay home. Please stay safe, take the precautions. It's such a dangerous virus, that we just have to be careful. I want the supporters to know that we're working hard every single day. Like I said before with winning in mind, what can we do to help us improve, help us gain a competitive advantage, that's our commitment. That's our promise to our supporters. We miss them. We're going to come out of this, stronger than before, and we're going to come out flying, so we'll see you soon. Stay strong. Stay safe. We love you guys and thanks always for your support."
