Before Minnesota United gamedays, it’s a day for games at practice

Minnesota United’s training sessions are exactly what you would expect for the most part. The team works on tactics and on fitness, practices set pieces and works to build precision on the ball — serious work, in other words.

All except when they warm up on the day before a game. That’s when things get a bit, well, silly.

“The guys are pushing themselves every single day of training,” said Dan Bell, the team’s head of performance, who is the one that programs what the Loons do on a daily basis. “Bringing that competitive element back on a Friday before a game just gets them in the mindset that they’re ready to go out and compete against another team. Everything’s so dialed in during the week, it’s their one opportunity to remember that we are here for enjoyment and entertainment, as well.”

There’s no hard-and-fast rule for what happens for warmups the day before a match, but it’s fair to say that any game you played in sixth-grade gym class — or any game you played at summer camp — is probably fair game.

The Loons have played Friday morning dodgeball. They have played memory and match games. They have done drills that involved teams of six, where five players had to take turns carrying one of their teammates 10 yards down the field.

They have yet to play freeze tag in front of this reporter, but that’s the level we’re talking about here.

“My goal every Friday is to make Robin Lod crack a smile,” Bell said of the taciturn Finnish midfielder. “He’s certainly someone that we’d love to get smiling every single time … which I would say I’m still looking for.”

“There was one on the road that we did that featured an egg and spoon race, that was fun,” Bell said. “We did a little wheelbarrow race in there, that was good. The memory games, I’d say those definitely went down like a lead balloon.”

The most popular of all has been dodgeball, both from the players and the staff. “We don’t have so many Americans on the team, so introducing that to some of the international players was brilliant,” said Bell, who is from England.

It can be confirmed that some of the Loons, wizards with the ball at their feet, are, let’s say, less accurate when attempting to wing a dodgeball at their opponents. “It’s a steep learning curve with that,” Bell said.

The routine usually goes the same way. Bell, who has everything set up for the drill, will explain what’s going to happen. Anywhere from a quarter to a half of the team will, listening to the explanation, have an I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening look on their face, like reluctant employees listening to the description of an icebreaker at a company team-building event.

Two minutes later, there will be shouting — usually arguments about the rules — and laughter from all sides. There is simply no game so silly that 25 professional athletes won’t immediately be insanely competitive about it.

There’s also no game that’s simple enough that the team’s veterans — who are often put on a team that former striker Tani Oluwaseyi used to refer to as “the old heads” and “Team Grandpa” — won’t try to somehow bend the rules.

Bell named 37-year-old captain Michael Boxall as the leader of the old guys.

“He’s always about it, always leading, always giving some energy — and always trying to figure out the game as well,” he said. “Like if there’s a way he can cheat the game — he’s always one that loves it.”

In the end, there’s an importance to the Friday morning activities that belies the inherent silliness of a bunch of grown men flinging dodgeballs at each other. There is something genuinely joyful about the purity of those games, something that’s even more basic than even kicking a ball around on a field.