CARSON, Calif. – Bradford Jamieson IV has endured plenty of bumps along the road during his development, and now a refreshed mindset has the 20-year-old midfielder on the brink of a breakout.
In recent weeks, the Galaxy Academy product has become an impact substitute for head coach Curt Onalfo, winning a penalty and notching a game-tying assist during his last three appearances. This season, Jamieson has made seven league appearances matching his career-high set during the 2015 campaign.
Despite being in his fourth year as a professional, Jamieson’s career has been stop-start, causing the youngster to change his approach to the game.
"I’m taking it the same way that I’ve been taking it the entire year which is day by day. Coaches work hard to try to make sure that each player is progressing with the year. I’m just taking it day by day and every stride forward, or backward is taken with a grain of salt just to make sure that it’s for my greater benefit,” Jamieson told LA Galaxy Insider. “What day by day means is to make sure that you don’t get overwhelmed on either end of the spectrum. It helps you stay in a homeostasis.
"The thing about taking things day by day is that it’s also a way to break down and study yourself. It’s not to just forget about yesterday and not worry about tomorrow, but it’s also a way to take full advantage of the now. Negative or positive."
As he’s looked to overcome the injuries and concussions that have halted his growth, Jamieson admits that he’s begun to compartmentalize in his training regimen and started to see concrete results.
"I’m taking the time to improve upon specific tactical, physical, and mental goals that will overall help me improve my gameplay," Jamieson said. "Usually, I thought of a specific bloc of things that I did well, but now I splice them apart into a couple of items that I practice individually throughout the week. So Monday is for one task and Tuesday or Wednesday are different. Before I know it after two or three weeks, that’s when everything falls into place, and that’s how you have the foundation built instead of just working on tasks little by little and not knowing why things work."
The Galaxy’s pacey winger should have ample opportunity to put his new mindset into practice in the coming weeks with Giovani dos Santos and Gyasi Zardes away on international duties. And his head coach believes that he's ready for the added responsbility.
“He has so much talent that it’s almost scary at times. It’s just a matter of applying that on both sides of the ball consistently. He’s in a good moment as are a lot of younger attacking players,” Onalfo said. “He’s utilized his opportunities and produced.”
For Jamieson, the time is now to test himself and show that he can capitalize on his potential and completely come back from the brink.
“The mentality that I’ve had to develop for myself has been caused by the adversity that I’ve dealt with over the years that have put stoppages to my game and not helped me progress as swiftly as I had envisioned," Jamieson said. "To have stoppages is something to overcome, but the ability to come back from them gives me more confidence than the injuries could take away. The mentality that it made me build helped me grow and stuck with me.
"It gives me a chip on my shoulder and the thought that I’m chasing anything that I might have lost. I never know what would have happened if I had been able to get quality minutes for the past etc. years. The what if factor always helps me want to go balls out all the time."
