Blogging with Bishop and Berzins

AMES, Iowa - Former Iowa State soccer players Jordan Bishop and Elisa Berzins have continued their careers, playing professionally in the WPS and in Iceland, respectively. Both Bishop and Berzins will be providing updates about their experiences playing at the next level all summer on cyclones.com. This is the second installment from the duo.

Jordan Bishop:

We continued with hard practices all week. Sadly, I have developed Achilles tendonitis. My Achilles has been sore for the past few weeks, but it really flared up last Thursday and has kept me off the field since. They think it was most likely triggered from switching surfaces (grass to turf) and just overuse. Thanks dad for the "Duck Feet"! Just kidding! It's an injury I have dealt with before, as I had it the spring of my freshman year. I remember a couple other teammates dealing with it also like Elisa Berzins and Adri O'Neil. I have had some of our PTs give me some things to do on my own because our team doesn't have a Tim Weesner! Ice, stretch, and rest. Injuries are never fun but you have to stay positive during them, so you can get back as soon as possible. I'm hoping to jump back into practice tonight and be back in the lineup for this Sunday's game! Wish me luck!!

-J

PS - Go Mavs! Team Dirk No-Miss-Ski!!!

Elisa Berzins:

For a recap on the league: This last week was a bit disappointing. We played a team that we were far superior to, but just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. We didn't play up to our potential and played down to their ability. After three games in the league, we are 1-0-2; knowing full and well that we should be 3-0 and first in the league. Because we have tied two mediocre teams, we are now in fifth place in the league. I hope that these two ties don't come back to bite us later on in the season. However, having no losses is great. It has given our team a lot more confidence that we need to move forward when playing a few really good teams these next few weeks.

As for soccer in general, things are going well. Something that I really miss about college ball is the intensity of practices. We really had the mindset of practicing like you would play in a game at Iowa State. Maybe it is just my club team, but it's definitely not like that during practices. People go into tackles halfway and are afraid of really going at it. Also, the coach favors the starting 11 and seems to always put us on the same team together to scrimmage the non-starters. Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that we get extra practice together as the starting 11, but it doesn't make for good competition on the team. It seems to put the non-starters in a different group and they don't seem to push hard to compete or have the drive to get better because the coach has already made up his mind on the starting team. Again, it's difficult to generalize and say that is what it is like for all teams here in the country. I'm just sharing my experience from my club.

And believe it or not, I miss ice baths and workouts with Andrew Moser. The other American and I have actually asked to bring in a tub to have an ice bath at least once a week. Now that we aren't getting any younger, it's nice to have a recovery bath every once in awhile. There is also a hot tub and steam room for us to use right across the hall from our locker-room, so we often go in there after practices as well. And in terms of working out, it's up to you to go to the gym and get in extra conditioning. We rarely do extra running and things on our own. If you aren't in shape, than the coach will pull you from the starting 11. Everything is very independent here. I really had a hard time getting used to that. Having such a regimented schedule in college was so nice. I just had to show up at a certain time to work out and have practice. It's more so that you were just on set schedule. Here it's really up to you to make sure you are in peak shape. If not, adios amigo!

Players Mentioned

Jordan Bishop

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