"In the beginning, everyone was standing up like this," Nancy said, squeezing his arms close to his body and adopting a stiff, tense posture."We didn't move.", Nancy has brought the Crew a newfound lightness. When asked what the highlight of preseason had been, it didn't take Nancy long to find his answer.
The impact of the new environment has been felt across the roster; players laugh more in training than they did in the beginning, and everyone's smiles are wider. When Nancy is calling instructions across the field, his tone is relentlessly positive —"Yes!" and"Good!" may well be the two most common words., can feel the new spirit.
For the Crew's young players, like Sean Zawadzki and Jacen Russell-Rowe, the new approach has been particularly invigorating. Nancy isn't a believer in looking at the past — he meticulously researches his players, but he works to prevent that knowledge from influencing his decisions in the present — and that forward-looking approach has brought a fresh start.
Age of a player matters little to Nancy when it comes to giving them opportunities. He wants to play his best players on any given day, with broad acceptance — and even encouragement — of the mistakes that come with learning.