Get the Oxygen...Steamers Open Camp
By Dave Lange St. Louis Globe-Democrat
Pat Howley remembers training camps run by Dave Clements.
But Howley would rather forget them. When Clements coached the now-deceased Major Indoor Soccer League franchise in Denver, he took his players to the ski runs at Vail during the pre-season to acclimate them to Denver's high altitude. At Vail, they underwent the torture of running "doggies."
"You'd run part of the way up the slope and down, part of the way up the slope and down," recalled Howley, a St. Louisan who played at Denver for two seasons. Clements also had another favorite training spot: Red Rocks, an amphitheater carved into the mountains outside Denver. There, the players were made to run up scores of steps leading from the arena.
"No one ever counted the steps. they were afraid if they counted them, they'd get sick," Howley said. "A couple did anyway."
Howley is a new member of the Steamers. Clements is the coach. Training camp opens Oct. 1.
"I'm trying not to think about it," howley said.
When the Steamers open their first training camp under Clements - he joined the club last year near mid-season - the key word will be "training," modified by the word "physical."
Clements has scheduled the vast majority of the club's early workouts at either Forest Park or a north St. Louis County outlet of Vic Tanny's.
At last check, there were no dasher boards at either location.
"We're going to Forest Park mainly for running and fitness," said general manager Mike Sanger. And the Steamers aren't going to Vic Tanny's to ogle photographs of Victoria Principal.
During the first week of camp, Clements has planned only two out of 10 sessions for Twellman's Just for Kicks Soccer Club in Bridgeton, where the team normally trains in Twellman's indoor soccer facility. Twice the Steamers will visit Vic Tanny's. The remaining workouts are scheduled for Forest Park. At most Forest Park sessions, the players will runa circuit beginning at the Arena, continuing through the park and ending at the Arena. Just what other horrors Clements has in store at the park are not known, for he is vacationing out of town until camp begins. But the players have a good idea what to expect.
Asked if Steamers' veterans had quizzed him about Clement's camps at Denver, Howley replied, "Yeah, but I've got a feeling they already know. When he came in (to the Steamers in January), all they did was run."
The Steamers' emphasis on fitness carried over into the off-season. A trade deal was worked out so the Steamers could utilize Vic Tanny's in return for complimentary advertising.
"We never did have a program like Vic Tanny's before," said Dan Muesenfechter, a Steamer for the last two years and a member of the Denver team during the 1980-81 season. "All we did was play about three rimes a week."
Nearly all the Steamers have participated in the Vic Tanny program, which began in mid-August and entails workouts three times each week. Even Sanger donned sweats. "Yours truly has managed to go there a few times in a desperate attempt to lose weight," sanger said.
The Steamers' off-season work included entering a reserve team in a Tuesday night summer league at Twellman's. Clements used the squad as a vehicle to scrutinize newly-acquired talent and free agents who requested tryouts. The Steamers' equipment manager, George Hanheide, coached the team.
Their off-season preparations point to what promises to be the most rigorous training camp the Steamers have had in their five-year history. That the toughened pre-season work follows a poor 1982-83 campaign may be no coincidence. The Steamers tumbled from consecutive divisional championships to third place in the Western Division last season.
After a first week spent mostly at Forest Park, the Steamers move into Twellman's for four of the nine sessions planned for week two. The following three weeks contain the most pre-season work the Steamers have ever done against other teams. They will play four exhibitions and three scrimmages against other MISL clubs before opening the 48-game regular season at Memphis Nov. 4.
The MISL campaign is a long one, and all the hard work at Foresat Park "will help us pretty much," Muesenfechter said. "I'm just glad we don't have any mountains in St. Louis."
Muesenfechter ought to think twice.
Said Howley, "At Forest Park, I have a feeling we're going to be at the bottom of Art Hill."
Steamer Notes - Muesenfechter underwent surgery over the summer to have tissue removed from his left knee, but figures to be ready for training camp ... Howley spent his summer as a stockbroker for a St. Louis firm, Newhard Cook and Co., Inc. ... St. Louis native Kirk Rone is the club's new public relations director, replacing Mike Kavanaugh, who resigned. Rone played soccer at Affton High School, Forest Park Community College, and Michigan State and was assistant p.r. director with the Steamers during 1979-80 and 1980-81. Kavanaugh had been with the Steamers sincer their inaugural season in 1979-80 ... Former Steamer Greg Villa has been waived by the Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League.
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