TUCSON, ARIZONA – So that was fun.
The ‘Caps had their first and only day off in Tucson, Arizona, and only second true day off of the preseason, on Sunday and it was an eventful one to say the least.
First up was go-karting at the Musselman Honda Circuit. After a few practice runs, those who wanted to continue were broken up into groups of three for an hour-long relay race.
Initially, a team composed of trialist Cristian Cavallini, senior manger of media relations Nathan Vanstone, and assistant equipment manager Andrew Lichtenfels were crowned champions.
But after a couple missed pit stops were taken into account and a re-calculation of the lap times took place, it was determined that Jordan Harvey, Mauro Rosales and Paolo Tornaghi were the real winners.
“It was a lot of fun,” Rosales told whitecapsfc.com. “Just being with the team, it was a beautiful day, and car racing is one of my favourite hobbies. It was really, really good.”
“It’s something that I like to do when I’m back in Italy or last year in Vancouver,” added Tornaghi. “Now I found out that we have some other teammates who are pretty fast so I hope we go again. It’s pretty exciting.”
The race was great fun, but there were some other highlights as well.
Kendall Waston had a blast flying around his new drone camera, while Matias Laba and Nicolas Mezquida got their hands on a mic and broke out into song at one point towards the end of the race (click to watch).
They were singing Spanish tunes for the most part but Mezquida also got everyone going with Bob Marley’s “Every little thing gonna be alright” – just as he did on the bus ride to Seattle late last season (click to watch).
Speaking of breaking out into song, that was a common theme at “Whitecaps FC Rookie Night,” which was also held on Sunday.
SuperDraft picks Spencher Richey and Tim Parker took the stage and sang “Thinking out loud” by Ed Sheeran, which prompted a Russell Teibert and Jordan Harvey slow dance (click to watch)
Ben McKendry and Andre Lewis sang “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias, while assistant coach Martyn Pert did his best “Sweet Caroline” rendition. There was also a Rod Stewart impression courtesy of Gordon Forrest, some staffers attempting to rap, a skit by some of the Residency graduates, and much more.
Oh, and you know Pa-Modou Kah and the Latin Americans found a way to get involved in the festivities.
“Everybody is always together, everybody is on the same page with the same mentality just trying to enjoy each other,” Rosales said. “We have a good time on and off the field.”
The ‘Caps are back to training on Monday ahead of Tuesday's preseason friendly against Houston Dynamo (5:30 p.m. PT kickoff) – their third and final match in Tucson. Follow Whitecaps FC on Twitter for live updates and stay tuned to whitecapsfc.com after the match for complete coverage, including highlights and reaction.
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