Players return to stadium for workouts
Inter Miami CF didn’t waste time getting back to the practice fields.
After Major League Soccer’s recent announcement that players may start to use clubs’ outdoor training fields for voluntary individual workouts, almost every Inter Miami player arrived at the new Fort Lauderdale training facility for a workout Wednesday morning, the first in nearly two months.
“Even though it’s limited and very separated,” Mikey Ambrose tweeted. “It feels absolutely amazing to be back on our fields.”
Inter Miami players haven’t been allowed to work out individually or as a team at the practice facility since the league suspended the season March 12 and enacted a team training moratorium amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Only one player didn’t participate in the voluntary workouts Wednesday. Paul McDonough, Inter Miami chief operating officer and sporting director, declined to identify who the player was when asked during a Wednesday web conference with reporters but noted the in
player was out of state and couldn’t make it back in town for Wednesday’s workouts.
“A little taste of normalcy today with individual training starting back up,” AJ DeLaGarza tweeted. “Keep doing your part so we can all get back to doing what we love…watching soccer.”
Ben Sweat tweeted: “FINALLY back on the pitch today after over a month off. Little by little things are becoming normal again.”
McDonough said the league’s change in training protocol has more to do with giving players safer options to work out at than the return to play being imminent as parts of the country plan to relax their stay-at-home orders. Although parts of Florida have started to reopen, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first phase of reopening does not apply to Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties. County parks were opened last week with some restrictions.
“Everything we’re doing is very well thought out,” McDonough said. “MLS has been really good leaders through this process in the sense that this was not an easy plan to devise for them.
“They checked it and came back with recommendations for us, saying we could do certain things. They ridiculed it pretty good and we presented it to the city of Fort Lauderdale, and they understood we’re just trying to keep the players safe.”
Inter Miami are implementing the following guidelines:
■ Players will use the team’s outdoor fields, divided into a maximum of four quadrants per field. A maximum of one player per quadrant may participate per training session with no equipment sharing or playing between players.
■ Access to the training facilities is prohibited, including locker rooms, team gyms and team training rooms. Team gyms and training rooms may only be used by players receiving post-operative and rehabilitation treatment, under the direction of the club’s chief medical officer.
■ All training equipment and work spaces will be sanitized and disinfected between every session.
■ Each player will be screened before and upon arrival at the training site, including temperature checks.
■ Player and staff arrivals and departures will be staggered, and parking spaces will be assigned to maintain distance between vehicles.
■ Players must use personal protective equipment from the parking lot to the field and again on return to the parking lot.
■ Staff must use personal protective equipment throughout training while also maintaining a minimum distance of 10 feet from players at all times.
The leaguewide moratorium on smallgroup and full-team training remains in place through May 15. The United Soccer League announced Wednesday that it’ll allow for training in small group settings (no more than four players per group) to start Monday. McDonough said Inter Miami’s USL League One team, Fort Lauderdale CF, will follow MLS protocols.