Alecko Eskandarian's Blog - January 2, 2009

Offseason And Getting Ready for 2009

Here we go again, another offseason. Its scary for me to believe that this next season will be my 7th year in MLS. After watching the NCAA Soccer Final 4 matches over this past weekend, it seems like just yesterday that I was at the University of Virginia and aspiring to be a professional soccer player just like these kids that I am watching. In reality, I am 26 years old now, and looking to recover from the injury storm that has taken many months of soccer away from me the past few years. In many ways, I feel that this offseason is by far the most important one I will go through. First and foremost, my biggest focus this offseason is to get fit and get my muscles strong enough to endure the wears and tears of a long season. Any time you get injured, your fitness takes a hit. Whether you are out for 4 days or 4 months, your fitness is always the 1st thing that is affected.

So right now I am on a steady workout plan that starts off basic and increases periodically so that I am really pushing myself before I have to report to preseason. Although this is technically our "time off", I find that the offseason is when I feel the need to work my hardest so that I won't be hurting as much when we do 2-a-days in preseason. As of this morning, I have already lost 9 lbs from the last game of the 2008 season purely through a better diet and cardio workouts. I weighed in at 157 today, which is great news to me because it will give me a base to work with to make sure I come in to this season ready to go. Once I start working on some weight training and strengthening in the next few weeks I am sure I will gain some muscle weight to balance it all out. That is basically the plan for this offseason.

The older I get I realize that although its important for me to get away from the game and enjoy time with my friends and family, I still must focus on the little things to get myself ready for next season. I haven't had too many fun endeavors away from the game thus far, I got to go home to NJ for Thanksgiving which was fun and made a little trip to DC to see some friends. Now I am back in LA to work out, but also got to catch up with my friends on the US Women's Team at their game here this past weekend and also went to the USC-UCLA football game. All in all, I just feel blessed that I am able to play the game that I love and I am thankful that my body has recovered from the setbacks I have had to face. I feel strong both mentally and physically, and I am just focused on making a positive impact in 2009. I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and hope you are as excited about the 2009 MLS season as I am. God Bless.