| Live Chat With Men's Soccer Coach Brent Erwin UCF men's soccer head coach Brent Erwin conducted a live online chat on UCFathletics.com on Thursday. Erwin, who is in his second season at the helm of the program, talked about the team, the soccer stadium and what fans can expect this season. UCF head coaches will be joining the live chat circuit later in the summer. Check UCFathletics.com for upcoming chat dates. |
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| PBP: Welcome to the UCFAthletics.com chat with men's head soccer coach Brent Erwin. Coach Erwin will be joining us momentarily. |
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| Scotts Valley, CA: Will UCF use Match Tracker this year for your distant fans? Can fans get game information as it is happening? |
| | Coach Erwin: Terri, thanks for the excellent question. It's good to hear from UCF soccer fans in California. It is something we are working on right now. UCF men's soccer has expanded its recruiting arm to all corners of the United States. By doing this, we have also expanded our fan base outside of our Central Florida home. We want all of our fans as well as the players' families to feel like a part of what we are doing here. Being able to track the matches as they happen in real time is something that is vital to that goal. It is something that we working on as we speak. Watch this space. |
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| Guy (Orlando): WHat kind of fitness tests should players expect if they are trying out? |
| | Coach Erwin: Guy, thanks for the question. Are you saying you want to come tryout? We do have a walk-on tryout for any students. This is generally held on the day classes start due to NCAA rules. Although our roster this year is full and holds lots of promise, we are always looking for quality student-athletes. As far as the fitness requirements for our team, they are very difficult. We do a 20-minute test involving sprints and recoveries on various times to truly test the aerobic capacity of all of our players. We do this in conjunction with regular heart rate, body weight and body fat tests. Our athletes must be in top condition to compete for UCF. |
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| Tim (Orlando): What are your expectations for the up coming season? |
| | Coach Erwin: Tim, thanks for joining us today and as a local UCF soccer fan, we hope to see you out at our games. Entering my second year being the head coach at UCF, I think we are ahead of my original five-year plan. Our recruiting has gone very well as we were ranked No. 1 in the South Region. My staff and I are all looking forward to 2006-07 with great excitement...and some trepidation. We are closer to having the type of student-athlete that will make UCF successful on the national stage. This will be a very challenging year. We have 19-20 new players joining our team, including 15 freshmen, seven sophomores, four juniors and two seniors. Although we may be young, I do believe we have a great deal of talent and character in the team and we have experience at important positions. We have also improved the schedule dramatically and will face Wake Forest (Sweet 16), North Carolina (Elite 8) and SMU (College Cup Finalist) among other tournament teams. Conference USA is a very difficult conference, but I think we will be better prepared. This group of players has been training all summer and is ready to play. Although we have a tough schedule, this team is ready to compete. |
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| Sharon, Poinciana: What did you learn from your first season in Conference USA? |
| | Coach Erwin: My experience at SMU prepared me for what Conference USA was going to bring, but for a player to understand what the competition level is going to be, they have to go through it. Experience is a great teacher. Men's soccer is the only sport in Conference USA that sent a team to the NCAA Final Four and they did not win the conference tournament. A conference that is as talented and competitive as ours is, you must play at your maximum level every game. Atlantic Sun did not require that of the players. Now we have a core of experienced players who understand the challenges of the league. As for me, I think the one thing I learned is to give the players the time off to rest, rehabilitate and regenerate properly |
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| Robert(Miami): When recruiting players,what is more important to you:overall technique or physical abilities? |
| | Coach Erwin: Robert, that is an excellent question. The attribute that is most important to me is character. Talent will only take you so far. It is character that sees you through. We play a very passing and possession style of soccer so your technique must be good to play for our team. Players who come to UCF must be technically sound, but modern soccer, not only collegiately but also professionally and internationally as we saw in the World Cup, demands a certain level of athleticism in terms of speed, agility, strength, etc. I look for a mix of the two, but you cannot be a superior athlete with no technique and play for us. We are looking for the perfect player - the player with superior technique and superior athleticism, but none of it matters if you do not have good character and understand the value of hard work both on and off the field. |
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| Robert, Oviedo: What can fans expect when they come out to see a match this year? |
| | Coach Erwin: First of all, we want you to expect a huge crowd. This year more than anything else you can expect a team that is ready to compete, a team that is going to play soccer the right way. Now that we have more players who fit our system, you will see a fast paced, passing brand of attacking soccer. We play to win and to entertain our crowd. With the upgrades to the stadium and to the team and with the quality of opponents we have coming to Orlando this year, attending a UCF men's soccer game will be a very entertaining night out. |
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| Terri (Orlando): With the athletic facilities growing, when do you expect a soccer stadium to be built? |
| | Coach Erwin: I think our stadium is almost complete. I like the current location of the stadium and I don't want it to move. With all of the construction occurring around us (football stadium, Convocation Center and dorms), I believe our stadium is in a prime location. This year when you come out to the games, you will see that we have added a brand new bank of stands that are not bleachers but have actual stadium seatbacks. The new administration, led by Keith Tribble, has shown a great enthusiasm for soccer and the things that we can do for the university. We are in the process of moving our headquarters and locker rooms over to the field and a permanent building with new locker rooms, offices, etc. is in the current construction plan. I believe when all the construction is done, we could have one of the premier soccer facilities not only in Conference USA but in the South Region. |
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| | Coach Erwin: Thanks for joining me. We are looking forward to seeing you all out at our games this year. |
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