JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Sporting Club Jacksonville gathered at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville’s Knight Sports Campus to hold the club’s first-ever training camp.
“Finally! The day has come,” exclaimed head coach Stacey Balaam. “It’s been a long wait, to be honest. I mean, for the last couple of months, we’ve been sitting and planning in the office, talking with the ladies before they arrived into Jacksonville. This is the day we’ve been waiting for.
For some players coming from places like Australia or Iceland, they had to adjust to the Florida heat.
“I was telling some of the international girls, I think no matter how long you’re here...the Florida sun will bake you,” says Sporting JAX defender and former UNF star Zara Siassi. “I think it gives us an advantage too when we play other teams that are not used to the weather.”
“This week is a slow progression to get back into things,” says Coach Balaam on preparing for the team’s first preseason game. “I said to them at the beginning, we’re all going to be at different levels, whether it’s being on the ball or off the ball. We’re at different levels in terms of conditioning. So we want to all be at the same level by the point where we get to play, so we’ll do that gradually because everyone’s at different stages.”
Sporting JAX will play its first preseason home game on August 2 against reigning Scottish Women’s Premier League champions, Hibernian FC Women. The club will make its Gainbridge Super League regular season debut on August 23 against DC Power FC at UNF’s Hodges Stadium.
Tickets for Sporting JAX’s home matches are on sale now.
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