Heat to hold tryouts

With one goal in mind for the upcoming 2009 United Soccer Leagues (USL) Premier Development League (PDL) Season, that of winning the division and conference titles and making it to the USL PDL Championship for an unprecedented fourth time in a row, the Laredo Heat Soccer Club started preseason training earlier this month with their core group of players.

This coming weekend, in anticipation of finding replacements for players not returning, the team will be conducting its annual Invitational Try Outs at the Texas A&M International University Soccer Complex.With over a hundred "soccer resumes" looked over and phone calls made to coaching references by the Heat Administration and Coaching Staff over the past two months, participation in the tryouts has already beenclosed out and hopefully with this due diligence, the best players have been asked to participate over the weekend."

Due to hard work and the fortunate success, not to mention luck that we have had over the past three seasons, we (as an organization) have come a long way in recruiting quality players to come play in Laredo," Heat general manager J.J. Vela said."With combining local talent with out of town quality players, we have been able to put an excellent product on the field."Back in 2004, I still remember explaining to players where exactly Laredo was and that it was not close to El Paso.This still remains my favorite story that shows how far we have come along in terms of getting players to the Gateway City to play".

"The players we have coming back understand the importance of the try-outs because some of them have been in that position themselves and each year have participated in making players welcomed to theorganization and making them understand that if they make the team, they will need to work hard, participate with the Heat's commitment to the community and more importantly, make them aware of our successful history and that 100% participation in all endeavors, from practice to games, is expected from each of them."

With the regular season opening on May 1 on the road versus the expansion Rio Grande Valley Bravos, the Laredo Heat Soccer Club is aiming at having a complete roster by the middle of April, after several preseason games that will be played in Austin and San Antonio.For additional information on the Laredo Heat Soccer Club, visit their Web site at www.laredoheatsc.com or call the Heat office at 723-4700.