While the rest of the team will be trickling in over the next week after completing their college requirements and finalizing contracts, 10 members of the Dothan United Dragons went through a spirited first practice of the year Tuesday morning at Rip Hewes Stadium.
One of the newcomers, Santiago Hoyos of Colombia who played last year at N.C. State, said making the move to Dothan was an easy choice when Dragons' coach Carl Reynolds reached out.
"To be honest, to be recruited for Dothan is the easiest job in the world," Hoyos said. "I mean, once Carl picks up the phone, you right away know who he is and the teams he's coached. He's a winning coach – there's no better words to put it.
"He recruits people more than players, because there are some fantastic players, but not as many good humans."
Reynolds has stacked the roster this year with many more players from the Division I college level and is excited about the mix of the club for Dothan's second season in the United Soccer League 2. The full roster will be 29 once everyone is in.
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"I said to the guys at the start of the session that obviously over the next few days we're going to get more and more players turning up, but they have a really unique opportunity to set the culture that we want really early," Reynolds said. "And then when the guys come in, they're just walking into the culture that we want.
"They did that today. It was a fantastic energy to the session and you could tell there was a lot of readiness. If we can carry that on now, it's going to be an incredible season."
Reynolds is certainly way more comfortable with things than a year ago when Dothan United was first formed and then took the community by storm with big crowds for the games.
"I'm so excited about having the fans back in, but I'm even more excited about the group that we have," Reynolds said. "It's truly an incredible group of people.
"We've got some guys that are really special and I think when you can mix that with what we have here in terms of the community and fan base, it has everything that we want to be a special season.
"Everything on paper looks absolutely amazing. The reality is, we've got to get them in, we've got to mesh them, we've got to make sure that they do what we think they can do, and that's our job."
Among the returners from last season is former Dothan Wolves' star defenseman Ty Powell, who has been attending the Pre-College Development Academy for soccer in Nashville and will be playing for Auburn University-Montgomery this fall as a freshman.
Powell got some playing time for Dothan United last summer as part of the developmental squad and hopes to contribute more this season.
"It's good to be back in this environment with these incredible coaches and these incredible players," Powell said. "Coming into it, I'm definitely more prepared this year and hoping to make more of an impact."
Even though there were just 10 players present for the opening practice, the action was fast and furious as they worked five against five towards the end of the session in a game-like situation.
"It was fierce and everyone had something to prove," Powell said. "It's all about the first impression with all of the guys and all of the coaches.
"I want to keep bettering my game and be as fit as I can for AUM when I get there in the fall. But more than that, I want to be successful here and I want this team to be successful this summer."
Dothan will have a home exhibition match on Saturday, May 3, against AFC Mobile before the season begins. The Dragons will open the regular season on May 10 in Montgomery and will play their second game at Birmingham Legion on May 14 before the home opener on May 17 against Montgomery at Rip Hewes Stadium.
Jon Johnson is sports editor of the Dothan Eagle and can be reached at [email protected] or 334.712.7965. Support his work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com. Follow Jon Johnson on Twitter @eaglesportsed
