When you think of the first match of the season, what do you see?
It’s easy to conjure up an image of players at practice and hours of preseason conditioning, and obviously the match itself. While that’s definitely true, there is plenty of preparation that happens off the pitch, behind the scenes. Ahead of this weekend’s opening fixture against the New England Revolution, the Sounders staff is hard at work to make sure all the essential elements are in place for Sunday night.
Over the next few days leading up to Sunday’s match, we’re taking an inside look at the people behind the starting lineup.
While supporters are looking forward to stepping back into the familiar surroundings of CenturyLink Field for the first time since November, Sounders FC Head Equipment Manager Nolan Myer is getting things back in order for the team with his staff.
“First we have to move back into our locker room. We’ve got to put all the nameplates back up, move all the hangers back in, all the towels… all the other kind of random stuff that goes back in there,” said Myer following a training session this week.
“Once we start to set up the lockers for the new guys, set up the lockers for all the returning guys that we’ve packed away their stuff, then we can start moving all the new gear.”
New gear – something that’s on the minds of staff and supporters alike.
While the Sounders faithful are excited for the release of the team’s new primary and secondary jerseys, Myer is busy readying the kits for Sunday’s squad.
“We’ve printed up a lot of the gear that we used in preseason, but then we have additional gear that we keep at the stadium, different color gear that they wear for the warm ups that are specifically just for game day,” said Myer. “The last week leading up to the regular season, we’ll get our numbers, assign numbers to guys who haven’t already had numbers assigned, and we’ll start printing up their game day gear and getting it into lockers.”
Check back on Friday to hear how other departments are gearing up ahead of Sunday’s first kick against the Revs.
