Impact Media strives to bring you as much information as possible on your club. The players on the field are crucial, but the club is also about passionate women and men that take care of every aspect of the organization. In this space, we’ll introduce you to some of these people who play in the shadows.
“We put out a lot of fires.”
Eduardo “Lalo” Ceza has a nice catchphrase to describe his and his colleagues’ job.
Lalo is assistant to Aldo Ricciuti, the first team Equipment Manager. These two, along with Coordinator Remy Eyckerman, handle all equipment needs, and then some. They’ll respond to special requests – and learn how to anticipate those –, set up training fields, pack bags.
Here is, in their own words, how Remy, Aldo and Lalo keep busy with the Bleu-blanc-noir’s gear.
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Remy: I used to coach at the national training centre. I was goalkeeper coach for two or three years. I was on standby with the U15 national team to do double duty: equipment manager and ‘keeper coach. But then, I got a call on a Sunday morning of 2011, at 7:11am – I still remember that phone call like yesterday, with my wife asking me who was calling me at that time – to offer me a job. They brought me to practice. It was preseason. They introduced me to Aldo. It took off from there. We hit it off right away. And the rest is history.
Aldo: It was an easy adaptation. I had started in 2008. I am a long-time friend of Mauro Biello’s and of Nick De Santis. I helped them a lot with soccer camps. I was just talking to Mauro one day, asking how things were, and he told me that one of the equipment managers wasn’t going to be back the following year. We spoke to Nick the next day. They hired me, and things have been good since then. Lalo, it’s his third year with us. I want to say he’s my right-hand guy, but he’s both my right- and left-hand guy…
Lalo: It doesn’t mean that I have a right and a left, they’re probably both lefts… I first started working with the Soccer Schools for close to a year. I was asked if I wanted to take the position here, and I gave it a shot.
Remy: He brought us his resume, we looked at his resume… [He chuckles.]
With the first team, Aldo and Lalo spend most days at Centre Nutrilait, where the vast majority of training sessions take place. Their work requires that they understand everything that occurs on the training field so that practice runs smoothly.
Lalo: We set up everything so that the team gets to Centre Nutrilait in the morning and has everything ready. We help to set up the field for the coaches. Sometimes, we’ll help them with some of the drills – throwing balls here and there, picking them up. After practice, we pick everything up, move it to the side and start waiting for the clothes, bring them to wash. Once they’re washed, we set up the dressing room again. There are a lot of things in between. They’ll need socks or shoes, a lot of little requests every day.
Aldo: Most of our setup is done after practice, with the wash and everything. When we come in, in the morning, we just have little adjustments to make. Lalo will set up whatever the coaches need on the field – balls, cones, pinnies, poles –, while I’m inside to see if players have little needs, like a sock that they’ve lost. During practice, we’re both on the field. I come in earlier after training while Lalo finishes the cleanup on the field. Then it’s the wash and setup. We’ll come in at 8am, probably leave at 4pm.
Remy: As coordinator, I have to look at the big picture and see what every team needs – first team, USL team, Academy, Pre-Academy, everything. I have to support Aldo and Lalo in their day-to-day tasks. If we run out of something, I make sure to replenish. If we’re getting low on energy drinks at the facility, Lalo and Aldo will give me a heads-up and I’ll take care of it. I work with Merchandising & Branding on different things, providing input on kits and aspects of our designs. It goes way beyond the cleats and jerseys. I have to make sure that the equipment is up to league standards, that it is pressed properly, that the names are properly spelled – sounds simple enough, but if you get it wrong, you’ll get tweets about it –, that all the numbers are on. I’m in constant communication when Aldo is on the road… [Remy’s phone rings.] And then I deal with little things that come up at the office.
When Aldo is not at Centre Nutrilait or at home, chances are that he is on the road, with the team. Aldo is part of every away trip that the Impact takes – but that doesn’t mean that Remy and Lalo are merely chasing Pokémon in the meantime.
Aldo: Usually, we’re 28 people on the trip. Lalo will stay behind for players that remained in Montreal and he’ll handle stuff for their training here. Remy takes care of most of the packing at Stade Saputo, where most of our game equipment is stocked. We’re known to be one of the teams that packs the most stuff… attention to detail.
Remy: A certain number of pounds, times at least 12 bags, plus another four crates… [Remyloads the Calculator app.]
Aldo: I take care of the things we need from Centre Nutrilait, like shoes and a bit of the therapists’ and coaches’ stuff. We load up the Impact bus and go to the airport. From there, I’m on my own. Sometimes, when we get to the destination, we’ll leave most of our stuff to the away stadium and bring whatever we need to the hotel. If that can’t happen, we’ll bring it all to the hotel and store it in my room, and then unload it at the stadium on game day. Sometimes I’ll also have to set up for a training session on the road, mostly out West. When team gear needs to be washed, I may use the home team’s facilities if they let me, or I’ll go and sit in a laundromat for two hours. It is what it is. It’s always nicer when the other team helps out…
Remy: And then there’s the return home. There are times when the team gets back really late, 12:30am. We head back to the stadium and to Centre Nutrilait to drop everything off and get everything ready for the next training session, which may be the following afternoon depending on the game schedule. We don’t go to bed until the wee hours of the morning.
If all players were the same, you would see the same 22 pairs of cleats on the field each match day. The reality is much different. Every professional player is different and has various preferences that Aldo, Remy and Lalo have to understand, from the broad penchant to the specific demand.
Aldo: I have an idea of everybody’s needs, and I have to set that up for every game and every training session. Some like to have their shoes cleaned before the games. There’s a lot of personal stuff that you need to know.
Remy: After one practice or one week of training or one game, we’ve already picked up that player’s specific needs. We communicate it among each other and do our best to always get the player to be relaxed, knowing that his preferences are taken care of. Some players will want their towel in a certain way, or their shin guards… Everyone has their own little niche or routine. We do our best to accommodate them so that they’re focused on performance. A lot of what we do is back-and-forth communication with the equipment providers, tweaking things here and there to make the gear better. Which fabrics work better? How is nylon compared to polyester? Some players may feel that some type of polyester works better than the others, and we have to communicate that to the providers. Even down to the socks. Players may feel better running around with sports socks, so they may use cut-off soccer socks with sports socks, which remains within the rules – and the providers will tweak things like those.
Aldo: We’ll also sit down with a player when he comes in to know what his needs are. After one or two practices, we know what’s going on.
Remy: If we know that a trade has been confirmed, we’ll try to reach out to the other team’s equipment manager to ask what that player wears, what he needs, what his size is, what his special requests are. When the player comes in and sees our setup, he knows that he’s well taken care of. Within the league, all equipment guys understand the job and cooperate with each other.
Aldo: We’re a pretty tight group. We’re going to be 22 next year [when Atlanta and Minnesota join MLS]. We have meetings once a year, get to know each other, become friends. They’re all good guys… including the two next to me. [He chuckles.]
