Photos by Steve McCrank

Coach Ralph Perez leads the Galaxy fantasy Camp

I’ve always been curious about the annual Galaxy Fantasy Camp held at Home Depot Center.

Does former Galaxy defender Abel Xavier guest lecture and demonstrate “The Art of Playing Effective Central Defense”? Does former Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas stop by to speak on “How to Build A Winning Team”?

O.K., maybe not.

So I accepted the invitation Saturday to get a little taste of why about 40 wanna be pros a year fork over $1,000 (not including airfare and hotel) to spend five days training like real soccer players.

Read about it here.

Thanks to coach Ralph Perez, camp director Blane Shepard and, especially, the 40 campers who allowed me to gate crash their fantasy camp experience.

And in case anyone was wondering, yes, my muscles are still sore.

Poetry in motion (that’s Rafa Melgoza on the ball, BTW).

Photo Courtesy of the Galaxy

Barely five minutes into warm-up drills and your trusty soccer columnist wonders if he’ll get through the day.