The majority of Rapids players and staff had an early wake-up call on Friday morning, with the first group of players heading to Houston meeting at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park at about 6 a.m. The team is flying to Texas for a week-long training stint, and the players, coaches and staff had to brave terrible road conditions to catch the team bus to Denver International Airport.
“Certainly Houston this time of year is sounding beautiful,” said Rapids Assistant Coach Steve Cooke on Friday morning. “[This snowstorm] is one of the big reasons to go there, and get some warm weather work in with the boys.”
Cooke, an experienced coach who has been with Colorado since 2010, is one of four coaches traveling with the team, alongside Pablo Mastroeni, John Metgod and Chris Sharpe.
The team was split onto two different flights for the trip, with the first group consisting mostly of players already on the roster, with the second group made up primarily of trialists. The latter group only got a 90 minute sleep-in, meeting at the stadium for a 7:45 bus to the airport.
The Rapids will be taking a total of 28 players to Houston. Of the players already on the club’s official roster, only four are not making the trip: out injured are Brian Mullan, Danny Mwanga and Dillon Powers, with Matt Pickens an excused absence from camp thus far. All seven trialists currently on the preseason roster will travel to Texas.
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