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Stefan Frei is back.
The Swiss shot stopper will return to mind the posts for Toronto FC in 2013, after busting his ankle in 2012 and ruling himself out of the entirety of the club’s last season.
While Milos Kocic and Freddy Hall shared the playing time in his absence, Frei began the long and difficult road to recovery. Rehabilitation at the Kia Training Ground began; doctors and physiotherapists were called in; Frei slowly but surely began to recover, and now, he’s looking to regain his role as Toronto FC’s number one goalkeeper.
“I knew early on that it was a pretty serious injury,” said Frei, as he reflected on the ordeal. “I needed to give it all the time it would take, the care and attention – I just came in on a daily basis, I knew that the staff here was great and I just followed their directions every day.”
It was the staff at the Kia Training Ground facility that guided Frei back to walking, then running, then light practice, before being cleared for action once again during the offseason. Frei spoke of the staff at Toronto FC, and their role in his recovery process:
“They would tell me, ‘do this, do that’ and I trust them fully and just went along with it,” said Frei. “I knew I was in great hands and now I see the benefits of the guys I had around me.”
It helps that the resources available to him at the Kia Training Ground were both abundant and world class. When the Kia Training Ground was built, one of the main features that Toronto FC promoted was that of a rehabilitation centre. In a way, Frei was the guinea pig for this claim, the first player to go through the recovery process at the Kia Training Ground, and Frei is full of nothing but praises for the multimillion dollar facility:
“Oh, phenomenal!” said Frei, when asked to rate the facility. “I was the first one to use that pool, for example, when I couldn’t put too much pressure on my ankle, I was able to run in the water, which is fantastic.”
“The contrast bathing is huge, but obviously the staff makes it good as well,” he continued. “I got treatment on my ankle on a daily basis, which is just amazing. The gym as well, in the meantime while my ankle was healing, I was able to work on my upper body, and if you look at our gym, we have the best machines that money can buy: that definitely helped as well.”
As effective as his recovery process was, Frei also had a chance to take a break from soccer and focus on some of his other hobbies. Frei talked about some of the ways he distracted himself after being ruled out of the season:
“I draw a lot, I play some video games, I do like to cook and bake,” said Frei. “Sometimes some little thing comes up in my head and I just go for it. Most of the time I have down time and we try to let the body recover so I just kind of go with the flow, do whatever I feel like doing and go ahead and do it.”
Now, these hobbies and distractions hit the back burner – Frei, healthy and ready for action, is expected to start come March, when Toronto FC kick off their seventh season in Major League Soccer.
“Well, for us, I definitely want this year to be a positive for TFC,” said Frei. “For me, I want to help this team however that may be – I’m going to be working my butt off to get into the starting eleven, I want to improve on a daily basis. Obviously there are new coaches and new possibilities for me to take something on board in my game, my arsenal.”
He also has a message for his former teammate, Milos Kocic. The two were close competitors and battled for the starting role between the posts at Toronto FC. Kocic was traded to the Portland Timbers alongside Ryan Johnson in exchange for the third overall draft pick, and another goalkeeper, Joe Bendik. Toronto used the pick to select Canadian midfielder Kyle Bekker.
“For Milos, I wish him all the best,” said Frei. “I know he’s more than capable of stepping in there and winning the first step, and I wish him all the best except for when he plays against us, of course.”
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