Minnesota to Austin!

Well, it’s been nearly five months since I rolled into town. Can’t believe how quick that went. When I left Minnesota, a season had just ended. Now we are literally on the brink of the 2010 campaign beginning. I couldn’t be more excited.

Texas has treated me really well so far. I had been to Austin before as my mother lived here for about 20 months when I was in high school, so I spent about four weeks one summer here. I vaguely remember the heat, but from what people are telling me, it gets hot. I think I can take that. I’m ready for the heat after struggling through the Minnesota winters. I remember one of my first days in Minnesota in 2004. The weather man that day, with a smirk on his face, said “Today will be one of the coldest days of the year.” He said it would be something like -34 outside and a wind chill of -60. I thought to myself “what have I done!” But I will say I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Minnesota. I loved my job and met some of the greatest people I will ever know.

But when this opportunity arose in October, there wasn’t really any question if I would take it or not. It was the time to make a change, and this was the perfect place. It all happened pretty quickly. I got the offer when I was on vacation in Colorado, an annual vacation to Grand Lake that I take with some of my closest friends. It was there that I also accepted the job. I remember the excitement, and my friends were so pumped for me. But I was obviously nervous to uproot myself from a place I had been for six years. I remembered that I had done this two times before, and loved the chance to come to a new city, meet new people, and experience something different.

I had just a few weeks to finish up in Minnesota and get the house that I had bought in 2007 ready to sell. Needless to say………it’s still on the market. So if anybody wants a summer home in Minnesota, let me know.

I called one of my best buddies, Casey, who is in golf school in Phoenix (yes, there is such a thing), and asked if I could fly him up to help me move. He was happy to. I picked him up at the airport on November 5. The two of us headed out for a bit so I could say goodbye to some people and then headed to the house to get ready for the journey. The plan was to leave around 9 a.m. on November 6th. At about 2:30 p.m. the next day, we finally had the truck loaded and headed out. We put the Highlander on a trailer behind the U-Haul and made our way out of Minnesota.
I think we made it to Wichita around 11:30 p.m. that night. We got a hotel, and departed for the remainder of the trip around 11 a.m. on November 7. We were making great time and were headed into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. We decided that the Ft. Worth route would probably have less traffic. Just 10 minutes later after making that decision we discovered that the Texas NASCAR event was just ending. So, after two hours in traffic, we finally made it through Ft. Worth.

I’ll never forget driving into Austin. It was dusk and it was the most amazing sunset I have ever seen. I actually have a picture of it on my Facebook for any of you that are my friends. It was truly unbelievable and I don’t think the blackberry camera did it justice.

We got to my apartment complex about 7:30 p.m. I believe. One of my friends from kindergarten, Matt, who now resides in Austin, came to meet us to unload the truck. We basically just threw everything in the apartment because we had to get somewhere to watch the remainder of the Nebraska/Oklahoma football game. We made it and watched the Huskers beat the Sooners 10-3.

The next afternoon I dropped Casey off at the airport and that’s when it sunk in. It was the same feeling I had when I dropped my parents off at the Indianapolis airport when I moved there, pure excitement. I was invited that evening to head to Phil and Kay’s house for dinner. Coach Heath and his wife Jane joined. It was a great evening and I left their house knowing I had made the right decision.

Monday was my first day of work and I got thrown right in by having a meeting with AMD that afternoon to discuss our presenting sponsorship. From that moment, it’s been nonstop. But that’s what I thrive on. It’s pressure packed, but so much fun. The biggest thing I want to do here was bring in several years of working in soccer to an organization that is in year three. I must say that I was completely impressed with what has been accomplished in three short years. Phil and the staff have done an amazing job establishing the team in the community. Now we just need to fill the stands.

I’m excited about the move to House Park. The game against Houston at Nelson Field was my first match with the Aztex, and my first and last match at Nelson. I think it was a decent venue for the team last year, but I know the intimate confines of House Park will make all the difference. At Minnesota we played at the National Sports Center. Originally, the field was about 100 feet from the stands with a track around the stadium. The atmosphere was non-existent to say the least. We decided to make the decision to remove the track and bring the field 90 feet closet to the fans. It turned out to make all the difference in the world. I think moving to House will have the safe effect.
I think I’ve rambled long enough. I’ll try to do this again sometime as we get into the season.

Just a quick note, for those of you that I have met and have welcomed me, I appreciate it a great deal. I’ll see you all on April 11. Looking forward to taking down the defending champs!

Djorn

Travelling Aztex

The last few weeks have been full of travel for the Aztex, both players and staff. The team earned a victory in Laredo, running out the winners by 2 goals to 1. The text from assistant coach Bobby Murphy read "Won 2-1, missed a PK, hit the post 3 times, had 2 kicked off the line"

Meanwhile, Phil and I traveled to our home town, partly business and partly pleasure, to see Stoke lose 2 -1 to Spurs and then win against West Ham. I feel sorry for Zola, I think he's probably just a bit too nice. Ricardo Fuller's goal was a bit special - the only clip I could find was on footytube.com but it's highlights of the whole game so I'll let you have a look yourselves! Whilst the game was going on, our dear friends Gary and Sarah Mellor were bringing into the world the latest Aztex/Stoke fan - should have named him Ricardo but they decided on Harry! Congratulations from all the Aztex staff and fans, many of whom have met Gary, our Overseas Development Director.

Still on the subject of Stoke City, their manager Tony Pulis and comedian Nick Hancock are climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money for a local hospice - can't see Ferguson or Wenger doing something like that! Read all about it here - www.kili4kids.org

Adrian has also been on his travels to join other Everton legends as they celebrated their most successful ever season - 1984/85. 'Inchy' and other stars such as Howard Kendall, Peter Reid, Pat Van Den Hauwe and Kevin Sheedy joined 800 fans for an evening of entertainment and story telling (I'm sure our coach had one or two to add to proceedings!)

We are hoping to bring you news about the broadcasting of the games very shortly - watch the website!

See you soon!!

Kay
PS I bought my new England jersey whilst I was in the UK!

Football, soccer y mas futbol......

Hola everyone!! This week has been all about soccer; the Aztex officially began their training camp this past Monday- luckily I was there when the coaches, office staff and the president were introduced and let me say that it feels pretty nice to be part of the only professional team in Austin. We are all extremely positive about the upcoming season and firmly believe our 2^nd season as a professional team is going to have the Aztex accomplish many great things on and off the field.

And then Tuesday came and so did the “friendly” soccer matches all over the world began. Brazil, England, Argentina, Mexico, Spain- I would say every team participating in this summer’s World Cup- saw action either Tuesday or Wednesday. Brazil and Spain continued their dominance and performed at a great level against Ireland and France respectively. But to be honest I only watched the Mexico vs New Zealand game… I know, I know, watching New Zealand is nothing like watching a Mexico vs Spain game but at least we were able to play a game against a team not part of CONCACAF and the end result left the fans happy, even I was happy. Not only for the result but because of the way Mexico played in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored once again for Mexico; if his level of play continues to be the same, I’m sure his name is going to appear in the final roster for the world cup.

The player that left me with some doubts over his possible participation in a 3^rd World Cup is Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Blanco is by far my favorite Mexican player of the last decade; he is smart, has temper, good touch on the ball, and is definitely a good motivator. The level shown by Blanco is not the best I’ve seen from him- at times he seemed lost, slow and, yeah, old… “Cuauh” was our rescuer when we were in fourth place in the qualifying for the World Cup last year; he had even retired from the National team because of his lack of playing time with the previous coach. Then he came back from retirement and with his character, passion and talent gave Mexico hope and thank goodness, we’re now getting ready for the inaugural game against the host nation.

I was watching the game with some friends and after “Chicharito’s” goal she said: “Blanco needs to retire from playing. He is getting old and slow….” At that time I got a little upset and said something like “Blanco is smart, creative and we need him in ‘El Tri’… Deep down I know she is somehow right; the speed that young players like Gio Dos Santos, Carlos Vela, Andres Guardado and now “Chicharito” Hernandez give Mexico make seem Blanco slow and even lost in the pitch….

With a little under 100 days for the inauguration of the World Cup I just hope “my favorite” Mexican player gets a chance to participate in his third world cup; we know he has talent, but would that be enough to be part of the final roster??

Yoanna