Valour FC’s biggest addition this offseason is someone who won’t make a diving save, head home a goal or deliver a perfect corner kick in a match this year. In fact, he won’t even see a single minute of Canadian Premier League action all season. Meet Daniel Guerrero, Valour’s new fitness coach. “I’ve said to people all offseason the best signing we made this year wasn’t a player – I honestly think it was Daniel,” said veteran Valour fullback Jordan Haynes. “He’s made it so easy for us to put us in a position to do well.” This offseason when Valour looked to address its on-field needs, bringing in someone to guide them along the way was also at the top of the list. GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos eyed someone with an intense, no-days-off mentality that would be able to rally a virtually brand new squad with playoff aspirations. Guerrero, 32, joins Valour for his first job in North America, but back home in Portugal, he’s been advancing footballers for almost a decade.

Starting professionally in 2016, Guerrero became the fitness coach at Sporting CP, one of Liga Portugal’s premier football clubs. While he was there Sporting was a dominant force in the league, boasting winning records in every season of Guerrero’s presence. He also had the opportunity to train now AC Milan star, Rafael Leao during the younger stages of his professional career. Brining in someone like Guerrero who has experience with young stars like Leao is something that aligns perfectly with Valour, especially with youngsters like Frankie Facchineri, Themi Antonoglou and Abdul Binate who are in a similar spot that Leao was upon meeting Guerrero. Finding someone with that capability was part of why Guerrero’s name was highlighted by Dos Santos last November. Hearing about each other through a mutual coaching connection, both sides didn’t need much time to think about the possibility of working together. “He spoke about me to Phil then I did a couple interviews with him,” said Guerrero. “Everything went good, now I’m happy to be here.” Guerrero is now eight weeks into working in-person with Valour’s players, leading them through gym sessions and injury prevention work before the team headed out last weekend for the first match of the regular season. He’s worked especially close with midfielder Raphael Ohin who missed nearly all of last season for Valour with a knee injury. So far Ohin is loving the Guerrero effect.

“He’s really gotten me up to speed,” said Ohin. “He’s set up a program and I’ve never really had anything like that. It’s injury prevention exercises and, knock on wood, we’ve not had any serious injuries so far. Obviously, something is working. Daniel is the top.” But Ohin isn’t the only one raving about Guerrero’s early impact. During unrelated interviews with players, Guerrero’s name always seems to come up, whether that be discussing a new training plan he’s prescribed them or giving positive updates on how he’s helped them prepare physically for the season. “He’s made it so easy for us to put us in a position to do well,” said Haynes. “Day one through five of training everything has a purpose. We do something different every day and there’s no day off with him. I know a lot of guys are feeling really good physically and that’s only possible when you have someone with so much experience to get us through this.” Part of Guerrero’s effectiveness stems from being a player once himself. Playing attacker from a young age in Portugal, Guerrero played football for his hometown club until the age of 21 when he decided to transition from player to student to fitness coach. He feels that having that perspective allows him to place himself in players’ positions. “It helps my connection with players,” said Guerrero. “I know sometimes when I need to speak more about personal life, other players when I need to speak more about the focus on the work. Helps in that way.” Guerrero’s playing career also helps him understand the everyday grind of being a football player. Recently he took his first trip to Winnipeg’s outlet mall, the only time he’s gone shopping since the start of training camp over two months ago. “My routine is home, work, work, home,” said Guerrero. “I come early to the office and plan everything with the staff. After I go see the players and see how they feel in relationship to the last day. After I’ll prepare the gym session and finish with seeing how the guys feel in relationship to the training. I love my job and I’m happy here doing it.” Guerrero will continue to bring his workaholic mindset to Valour’s grind of a seven-game road trip to open the season, continuing this Friday in Victoria against Pacific FC. Perhaps when he’s back in Winnipeg he will get to explore a bit more. -- Kieran Reimer is graduating journalism student at Red River Polytech. Kieranreimer@gmail.com