Thunder Signs Defender Marcus Watson / Thunder play UW Greenbay in St. Paul on Saturday for final preseason game
The Minnesota Thunder announced today the signing of defender Marcus Watson to a three year contract, pending USSF approval. Watson, who has spent time with both the U20 and U18 US National Teams, has joined the team immediately in preparation for the Thunder’s season opener on the road against the Carolina Railhawks on April 11. The Thunder will play four games on the road before returning to Minnesota for the home opener on May 2 against the defending champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Watson signed a one year contract with Leicester City Football Club in England during the 2007-2008 season. As a member of the U18 Academy team, Watson was rostered in two reserve games while at Leicester City. The 19-year old decided to forego college to pursue his opportunities as a professional player.
“Marcus is a young, athletic and technical outside defender that likes to join the attack,” said Thunder head coach Donny Gramenz. “I believe he will adapt well to the professional environment and develop into a great player for the Thunder.”
Watson most recently participated in league and cup games with Hollywood United, a high level amateur team based out of Hollywood, California.
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On Saturday, April 4, the Thunder will take on the UW-Green Bay at Como Park’s McMurray fields in their last preseason game before the season opener Saturday April 11, at the Carolina Railhawks. Tomorrows match has been adjusted because of injuries to the team and will be one 90-minute match slated to start at 3:00 p.m. which is also a change in time.
Injuries are still bothering the Thunder: Rod Dyachenko is out with a hip flexor, captian Jerimiah Bass (ongoing hamstring injury) , Lawrence Olum (IT band), Dale Weiler (ankle), and Nathan Knox (knee rehab from ACL surgery) are all out tomorrow. Head Coach Don Gramenz says that the team will only have 15 healthy players going into Saturday’s scrimmage.
Players have been reporting to IMS that they are getting pretty beaten up by playing so many games and practices on artificial surfaces.
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Defender trialist Angel Garcia has been released from camp less than a week after coming from Mexico.
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Central defender Mamadou “Futty” Danso who had looked promising was originally offered a contract by the Thunder but Gramenz reported that he has pulled the contract off the table due to undisclosed reasons.
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Thanks for the updates on the final pre-season game and the injury status. It looks like the idea of staying in the north and away from green grass is paying a heavy toll on the players.
I would say that’s partially true. The team has also been working pretty hard and their scrimmages have been a bit odd this year with several weekends with two games in a row. It would be nice to see the team adapt regeneration therapy as so many teams have these days, including some college programs. Here’s a link that explains that a bit. I know the U of M women’s team uses it and most pro teams now use it after game days. This would probably be particularly important if one is playing numerous games on a weekend or pounding two-a-days on fill-turf.
Here’s a US Soccer Studio 90 video that explains regeneration.
I still don’t know what “regeneration therapy” is. After checking your links and then googling “regeneration therapy” and regeneration therapy sports, it seems to be a catch-all term to sell a panoramic-sized variety of techniques of widely varying credibility and effectiveness.
Going by your links alone, it includes rest and proper diet, lighter physical activity immediately after and in the hours and days following intense physical activity (all proven, very effective and generally well-known for years). It also seems to include commonly used, but unproven therapies, such as massagge and hot/cold hydro-immersion.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16937953
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18806553
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15039254
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15730338
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16937951
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18547863
For an organization as cash strapped as the Thunder is, resources should be more carefully directed to techniques and therapies that are proven in their effectiveness.
Also, while quite a few back to back matches have been played this preseason, the second KC match was shortened as were both matches played at S-SM on March 28th. In addition, I cannot recall any player who played every minute in both matches on such days. There was a completely different line-up for each match with practically no overlap in players involved. Brian Kallman has probably logged the most minutes this preseason from my observation and other accounts of matches I’ve missed, and his name is not among the reportedly wounded.
In my opinion there’s a different factor that could be a better partial explanation for the rash of injuries. (Although, when you think about it, four injured while in preseason training is not a huge amount. Knox was injured last season.)
Anyway, it could be the caliber of their opponents. For the colleges, academy teams and high-school teams, a match against the Pros is a MAJOR match. Their intensity is high and they are motivated to play as hard as they can. Unfortunately, their skill level is frequently not up to the hights of their motivation. Sometimes, the result is a less experienced player who makes a dangerous attempt at a play at full force without the skill and control needed to avoid injuring his opponent. In my years attending Thunder preseason matches, I have had more than one Thunder player comment on this to me.
But all in all, there are a variety of factors that cause or contribute to injury, many beyond an organization’s control. Maybe an investment on a nearly full roster would be wiser than spending money on unproven therapies.
I totally agree with your comment concerning college teams v the pro team and the level of athleticism possibly causing injury.
I disagree with your comments on spending money on unproven therapies. As stated, most D-1 soccer programs use this in one form or another, as do every MLS team that I’m aware of. The US National teams have been using it for years and I though the term may be new, the concepts of keeping energy use down but stretching out toxins and working with mobility is not new and all combined in the correct amounts can do wonders for an athlete the day after a competition for recuperation.
One needs to be creative in tough times. There are many trainers and sports rehab facilities that might be willing to barter with treatment facilities and or PT’s for dasher board space or other considerations.
As to the schedule and the turf, those comments were based on conversations with numerous players this preseason. They did not originate with me.
Well, I still don’t know what “regeneration therapy” is except in the most vague and general sense, which I stated above. Some of the things that appear to fall under this amorphous umbrella (again; proper diet, rest, a bit of lighter activity in the hours and days after heavy effort) are definitely worth doing. Some others (massage, hydro-immersion therapy) are unproven and should only be persued by organizations who can afford to experiment on unproven thoeries.
By the way, the “everyone is doing it” arguement holds a very limited amount of validity when standing on it’s own. Up to the early ’70s college and pro football teams had their players sit down to a hearty team breakfast a few hours before each game. The centerpiece of that breakfast was a big old slab of steak. Up until the late ’80s boxing trainers uniformly condemned the use of weight training for ANY boxer, because it was believed that weight training inevitably lead to becoming slow, tight and musclebound. The same held true of track and field trainers, soccer managers, gymnastic trainers, and instructors from many other sports. The UCI had to MANDATE the wearing of helmets for cyclists, because they and their trainers believed that wearing them while climbing greatly increased overheating problems.
Google “sports training myths” for some of the more modern shibboleths. Some experts will contradict others on some diet and training recommedations, which is an indication that not enough properly controlled research has been done in the field of sports medicine and training. I truly believe that we should stick to what has been proven to be effective over just what “everybody” else is doing.