Kansas City women’s pro soccer team training in Orlando ahead of first preseason game

Thursday night at 7, the Kansas City’s National Women’s Soccer League team sat down to watch a documentary.

ESPN’s 13-minute “Catching Kayla” video tells the remarkable story of high school cross country athlete Kayla Montgomery. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Montgomery won three North Carolina state cross country titles and became one of the most dominant long-distance runners in state history.

The decision for the team to watch the video together wasn’t made in the spur of the moment. It was specifically outlined on the club’s daily schedule.

“We have team bonding,” KC head coach Huw Williams said Thursday. “We’re not calling it that, but we have team bonding sessions scheduled into our daily itinerary.”

Williams and his team arrived in Orlando, Florida earlier this week for a two-week warm-weather training camp. Although plenty of time is spent on the field — the team is doing double training sessions every day — as well as in the weight room, Williams and his staff have made sure to incorporate “team bonding” activities into the schedule.

Earlier in the week, assistant coach Natalia Astrain gave a team speech about leadership and communication. Other nights, it may just be free time where the players get to spend time together playing cards and getting to know each other during ice baths.

“This trip down to Florida has given us so much time to get to know each other,” defender Elizabeth Ball said. “It’s just been great to be down here in Florida and have no distractions besides just training, meetings and getting to know each other.”

The bonding sessions are being integrated into the camp to help build a winning culture at the club as well as to quickly integrate new players.

Before the Utah Royals’ operations ceased and its roster transferred to Kansas City’s new team, the core of players who played in Utah had failed to make the NWSL playoffs in 2018 and 2019. Williams told the team in their first team meeting that he thought they underperformed in Utah and is looking to bring success back to the team.

“One of the players, don’t want to name names, came over yesterday just thanking the coaches for the culture that we’re building,” Williams said. “The culture of demanding a lot but also at the same time giving instruction, giving tools for the players to be successful.”

On the field, Williams is pleased with the progress the team is making tactically. Kansas City’s first test will come in the form of a scrimmage on Saturday before the club plays its first preseason friendly against the Orlando Pride on Wednesday.

The game against Orlando will be played behind closed doors.

The team will also be handed a boost as a handful of first-team players who were away on international duty have joined up with the team in Orlando.

Victoria Pickett and Desiree Scott returned from international duty with Canada, where Scott captained the team in the SheBelieves Cup. Scotland captain Rachel Corsie is joining up with the team after leading her nation to a 10-0 win over Cyprus and a 2-0 loss to Portugal in qualifying for UEFA Women’s Euro 2022.

New signings Kristen Edmonds and Mariana Larroquette are also joining up with the team, with Larroquette having scored a goal in a 4-1 loss to Brazil in the SheBelieves Cup.

“It adds quality immediately and it adds important players to be with our group to make sure that we’re all on the same page,” Williams said.

The five players new to camp will not participate on Thursday, but will instead watch and get involved on Friday. Williams talked to his team ahead of the five players’ arrival, telling them to make a statement about what it takes to play on the team.

“We want them to know that we’re a different team. We want them to notice the intensity of our practices,” Williams said. “We want them to notice how hard we’re working and the camaraderie of the group and ‘Hey, this is what it takes to be successful on this team.’”

Ball has already seen a noticeable difference in practices compared to the team’s time in Utah.

“Every training so far has been intense and everybody has been going all out and it’s been incredible to see, especially from where we were last season,” Ball said.

“I just can’t wait for everybody, the other teams, to see where we are now.”