FOR REAL: Kyle Beckerman Pt 2
11. So what were your initial thoughts after that? How did you feel? Well, at first, I mean it was pretty much always happy. Actually the night before it happened Chris Wingert had come back to get his stuff. He was leaving the next day. So we went out to dinner and we were just telling him “you’re going to be in a great situation. That’s awesome. And we’re really happy for you. Here it’s the same thing. Nothing’s changed. It’s really, it’s not good here”. So we are telling him all this and then the next morning I find out. So I was sad to leave the city, because I like the city and I like a lot of the players, but I was okay with it. I thought I was ready to get out of there.
12. So when you first arrived how did the situation compare to Colorado? Well, the first thing I had to do was fix…not fix things up, but I had to talk with Carey Talley cause we had some pretty heated games. But I walk in and sure enough his locker is right next to mine. So it got fixed really quick. So we had a bit of a hole, I think we only had one win at the time. So we really needed to do some work right away. But the first thing I noticed was that the training was a lot better. The practices that the coaches put on are better. You work hard. We try and work on things that we didn’t do good in the game before, and that wasn’t the case in Colorado. So I really enjoy that. The transition was pretty easy with moving, cause Chris was right there and so we were roommates in the hotel. And so that was really easy. But I’d have to say the training. And another thing in Colorado, you didn’t really know what you were doing. We kind of went out, and it was kind of a crapshoot how we were going to do. We didn’t know, we could win this game, we could lose this game going into each game. But you didn’t really know how you were going to win. So when you won it was such a big high, cause you didn’t know how you just did this. It was usually a mistake, we somehow got a goal and then we defended like, everybody worked, or at least some guys did, but we got the win and it was amazing. But when we lost we usually came out and got our butts kicked. We didn’t get a shot on goal, we got absolutely crushed. So it was such a low. We’re terrible. So it was these high’s and lows. And when I came here , Cassar mentioned “you’ve got to try and keep it on an even keel. When you win don’t get too high and when we lose don’t get too low”. So that was a big change that I definitely like. Cause when you go into a game you expect it, and when you get goals you know yeah this is what we’ve been working on. We expect to score like that.
13. You mentioned that you were taking a more prominent position in Colorado. Have you taken even more of a leadership role since you’ve been here? Definitely. Wearing the captains armband you want to take more responsibility. I feel like we have a real young team – more promise to come. I’ve been trying to do some more things, lead by example. I started to wear the armband in Colorado when Pablo wasn’t around. So I got some practice with that. When I was given it here so far, you just don’t want to let the team down. You know when things are good it’s great, but you gotta be there when times are tough too.
14. Does that make it harder in the game, put more pressure on you? Sometimes. Sometimes I feel like I have to do more, but I try not to, I don’t want to try and do too much because that’s not going to help too. I try to do what I’m asked with the coach, and then also just on leadership, just be more vocal and lookout for the young guys and make sure everyone is up for the game. Just little stuff like that. It’s not just about getting yourself ready. You ‘ve gotta make sure that every guy on the bench is ready. Some players, and it’s natural, are going to get down when they aren’t starting or dressing. You’ve gotta look after those guys too. When you’re younger you are looking out for yourself. How do I get ready? Am I starting? So it’s just little things like that.
15. Does it help recently having a Nat Borchers, and Clint and maybe Robbie Russell around, does that help you out? Yeah definitely. With Rimando, I would say he’s one of our captains. Dema, Borcher’s has got some experience. Wingert has experience. Andy Williams. These guys are all captains themselves. I just happen to wear the armband. So I think definitely with those guys around it definitely helps.
16. Now that you’ve been here, how is the Rocky Mountain Cup on this side? Yeah it was great winning it last year. Cause we had to win the two games. It was neat winning it last year, especially on the home field of Colorado. That was big for the guys last year. For me, switching teams it was kind of different. I still like it. It’s good. If you have a trophy to win, you definitely want to win it. I think we’re looking at bigger things now with trying to make the playoffs and having a go at that. Yeah it’s a thing we’d like to win but it’s definitely not our biggest priority.
17. What are some of the biggest accomplishments you’ve had in your career so far? Well team-wise it would be winning a couple playoff games, a series against Dallas in Colorado which was pretty tight. For me, it would be getting capped for the National Team. But there are definitely a bunch of things out there. I want to win a championship. I know everybody does. You always feel like it’s just going to happen. And some guys are lucky like that. Some guys come into the league and they get on a team that wins it right away. But being a small market team it’s not as easy. You don’t get as many, it seems like the New York’s, the LA’s and DC’s tend to get the players with the bigger names because of the city that they are in. So it’s a little bit more difficult for us. Also I feel like the league, they would rather a New York, or DC or LA, they’d rather them win the MLS cup. It would be better for the MLS. It’s definitely, it’s tough to win it here.
18. How do you think you are positioned now as far as that goal of getting to the MLS cup? Yeah it’s definitely better. We’ve upped the squad. There is more competition for spots. And it’s a young team too. A lot of guys that are just going to get better. Their doing big things this year, and they’re just going to keep getting better, and more experience. So I think we are setting ourselves up for a chance to really make a run. If you look at some of the teams that win a lot of them have been around for quite a few years.
19. You’ve had a couple of caps on the national team, do you have a goal for yourself to get back there at participate with the national team? Yeah I’d love to. That’s one of my goals, but definitely not my top one. My top one is to do good with Salt Lake. I feel that’s the most important thing. And I feel if that happens the national team will follow. And so that’s nothing I can really control. All I can control is doing good with Salt Lake. And I feel if we continue to do that, I think not only myself but others on the team can get in there and be regulars.
(Part 3)
