This weekend will be my first away day fixture in the Canadian Premier League, and our first of the new season with Vancouver FC.
On Sunday, we face the rebranded York United FC – now Inter Toronto FC, with kickoff at 2 p.m. PT at the York Lions Stadium.
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This is my first season as a professional, after signing with Vancouver FC in January. But, luckily for me I have some experience, as last year I played with SFU in the NCAA, which means pretty much every week we were flying to the States to play matches.
My first ever away game with Vancouver FC came in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in February – and that was an eye-opener to the step-up. As soon as we landed in Mexico City, they had a bus and police escort waiting for us. They had bags of food with our names on it for us to eat on the journey.
A few months earlier, I had been getting $10 at the airport to grab a pre-made sandwich at one of the newsstands.
There are, of course, some changes to our weekly routine when we’re on the road compared to a home fixture in Langley. The first two or three sessions every week are normally pretty intense. We’ll get more kilometres into us, we’ll do heavier lifts in the gym for the first two days. Then it’s max effort on Wednesday. We then travel – on a Thursday for a Saturday game, and usually on a Friday for a Sunday game.
The remaining sessions are more tactical, working on set-pieces.
The back four work together on breaking out from defence. Forwards are working on finishing and more individual stuff just to taper down the body, because it’s pretty sore from the beginning of the week.
For the session the day before kick-off, we try to get onto the pitch at the stadium.
Once you’re there, you walk around and get a feel for the surroundings. It’s usually not quite how I imagined it, so seeing it in person really helps with visualization and preparation. The session itself is light – maybe 45 minutes – just some passing drills and a few set pieces.
It’s a good way to get the blood flowing again after the travel.
Normally, after the game, you’d go to the hotel, eat and sleep, wake up, and travel back the next day.
It’s normally the long bus rides that get me – they leave my legs feeling heavy and sluggish because there’s no real blood flow, and flights aren’t much better. Being a bigger guy, I always try to get a window or aisle seat, and fortunately I have no problem sleeping on planes.
The hotel side of things is actually no problem for me – in a lot of ways, it’s even easier to stick to my routine on away trips than at home. When you’re in the hotel the day before or on game day, everything’s already there.
The trainers are on site, the food’s sorted, your kit’s ready – you don’t really have to think about anything. It’s all laid out on a set schedule, so if I want to go down for treatment, I can just go.
There’s no driving to the facility or waiting around. It makes everything a lot more straightforward.
It’s like a base camp – it just feels more focused because everyone’s there for the same reason.
The main objective of this club and league is for homegrown talent to have an opportunity to compete as professionals in a national league and provide a clear Canadian pathway to the world stage. So these experiences, learning how to prepare and perform home or away, is a key part of that journey for all of us.
This weekend, we’re focused on picking up our first points on the road and bringing a strong result back to Langley.
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– Kian Proctor is a 20-year-old Vancouver FC defender from Delta, who signed his first professional contract for the 2026 season after a standout year at SFU. He will be writing a weekly column this season, offering insight into himself and his new team.