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Q&A with Metro State men’s coach Ken Parsons
On Tuesday, the Colorado Rapids will host Metro State in this year’s version of the Burgundy & Blue Game. ColoradoSoccerNow caught up with Roadrunners men’s soccer coach Ken Parsons for a preview of what it will be like to take the field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and scrimmage a Major League Soccer team.
Parsons obviously is a fan of the Rapids and MLS. He knew all about the end of the MLS reserve league, the league’s roster reduction, the dates of the Rapids’ season opener and home opener … and he even called the Rapids “we” a couple of times.
Let’s get to the interview. My questions are in bold; the coach’s responses are in regular type.
How did Metro’s invitation to the Burgundy & Blue Game come about?
We started a relationship with the Rapids a few years ago. Brian Crookham (director of coaching for the Rapids Youth Academy) was my predecessor at Metro, and we’ve had a close relationship since I started here five years ago.
We played them two years ago. It was a split squad; the Rapids had about half of their starters and half reserves. But the Rapids had a rash of injuries, so many of the players that day wound up starting at some point.
I think we lost 3-0 that day, but we had a couple of good opportunities. It’s a great experience for our kids. We want to perform well because we want to continue this relationship. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. (The players) get to play against a professional organization and see the quality of players, things you don’t get to see watching on TV or sitting in the stands. For many of our players, this will be the closest they will get to playing in a professional setting.
But on the field, I don’t want this opportunity to be a horrible experience and get beaten badly. We want to make a good showing.
Two years ago, we were on their practice field, so this year will be a little more special: in the stadium, under the lights.
What do you tell your players before facing the Rapids? Is it, “Don’t hurt the pros”?
I think that’s important. You’re playing against a team that has a huge fan following. And for me and our players, we want to see the Rapids do well. And we want to be good guests. And with the Rapids’ roster reduction from 28 to 24, we want to make sure the Rapids can get through the season relatively injury-free. It is important for us to go out and compete and have fun.
In the spring season, we get five game dates. In the NCAA, we have our championship segment, the fall season, and our spring season, which is non-championship. We have limited contact with our players. We get 24 days of contact and five game dates.
It’s like in college football, you have your spring ball. It’s basically your offseason. You keep your players sharp. It’s an opportunity to keep playing so you’re not finishing in november and not playing again until the next season.
At this point in the year, how do you round up your players?
Well, Metro will be on spring break next week. I had already scheduled the Regis game (at noon Saturday at the Auraria fields) on the front end, so they knew they were going to have to be here. We have a good number of out-of-state players who would be making their way back home. But when this opportunity came up, everybody changed their plans.
Who will be playing for Metro?
We probably will not be at full strength.
We have two starting midfielders who had offseason surgery: Tyler Hambrick and Sam Rolph will not be available.
Also, spring is that part of the season where flu starts to make its way through the team.
In the spring we usually try to prepare for the following fall, so we tend not to bring our seniors back for these games. But this year, we think we will have two of our three seniors available to us.
RMAC player of the year Kellen Johnson will be there. We are a little thin at that position, so we will have him.
Ola Sandquist will be on spring break in Sweden and will be unavailable.
Ryan Vickery (a senior goalkeeper) will be suiting up for the game, but we’re not sure if he will be playing. Just to be part of the whole pregame and warmup and be in front of crowd is as special. Playing in game is even more special, but just to be a part of the whole thing is special. Ideally we would like to take a look at our younger goalkeepers, Dminique Griffith and Roland Mott.
What type of training have you done in advance of this?
We started conditioning in the last week of February and have been in training for the past three weeks.
Great interview thanks!!!
Nice job, George. Although FC Rocky is gone, it’s nice to see the soccer coverage continue.
thank you, sir!
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Our goal at ColoradoSoccerNow.com is to cover the sport in this state like no one else, from colleges to the Colorado Rapids, from the W-League to the U.S. men's and women's national teams.
About George: George Tanner fell in love with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the North American Soccer League while living in the Tampa, Fla., area in the mid-1970s. He got his first taste of newspapering while following the Rowdies every day in the Tampa Tribune, and from there grew the seeds of a journalism career in which he has worked at the Colorado Springs Sun; the Daily Camera in Boulder; the Durango Herald; The Daily Independent in Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Greeley Tribune; and the Rocky Mountain News.
E-mail George here.
About Cole: Not since the days of Ace Ntsoelengoe, the Minnesota Kicks and the North American Soccer League has Cole McGinnis been so excited about soccer. Cole handles the business functions of ColoradoSoccerNow.com, and he's the man to speak with about front-office issues.
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About Jonathan: Jonathan Ingraham is a Colorado native, sports hound, outdoors enthusiast and Metropolitan State College student, working on a journalism degree. Outside of school, he works as a freelance photographer and is available for photographing places, people, events, games or artistic shoots for businesses or personal collections.
E-mail Jonathan here.
About Tom: Tom Auclair remembers watching the New England Tea Men when he was younger and thinking what a terrible name that was for a sports team. He has worked for the Rocky Mountain News, Longmont Daily Times-Call and several newspapers in New Hampshire. He's currently working as an editor and photographer for a collection of Web sites. He can't believe how quick Omar Cummings is.
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