Tryouts and Differences

As I mentioned last week, we had tryouts for the Nighthawks this past Saturday. 

Registration started at 8:30, and we were due to hit the field at 9:30. I got there at 8:00, and there were probably 10 guys already there, getting loose. By 8:30, we had 30 guys, and by 9:00 we had about 45. Only about 5 guys showed up later than 9:00.

The only downside was that we only had 4 OL there….but given that I didn’t see 5 OL last year until practice 7, having 4 at Tryout #1 is pretty good!

So here’s a difference between the men’s and women’s game: If I’d seen this kind of turnout at a Surge tryout, when the coaches met afterwards, we’d be talking about making our reservations to Pittsburgh in August for the national championship. Seriously….you get that kind of turnout and potential talent on a roster, coupled with a halfway decent coaching staff, you’re going to be really, really good in the women’s game.

For us, we’re hoping to be in the Top Three in Southern California. The Inglewood Blackhawks, the California (Palm Desert) Coyotes, and the Inland Empire (San Bernardino) Raiders are the reigning kings of SoCal football. We’re hoping to be in the mix at the end of things, and believe we will be, but that’s still a long way away.

We’ve got the essentials to be successful: A committed, organized ownership group; a solid group of 10 coaches (the vast majority of whom have been or are current varsity coaches – no guys just coming on from Pop Warner here) and now a good group of guys to start with. Our challenges will be the same as with any talented team – finding the right team chemistry.

One unique thing about this OL group, is that I’ll be coaching two current high school OL coaches. Two (so far) of my guys are coaches themselves, so they’ll hopefully be able to grasp our schemes in a hurry and I’m looking forward to making them not only better players but hopefully better coaches. The discussions about technique and scheme should be interesting.

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Looking through Neal Rozendaal’s book, The Women’s Football Encyclopedia (purchase link here) gave me a pretty extreme sense of pride in a few places. One was being able to look back and remember games from 2003, 2004, etc., seeing the scores and then having memories from those games – specific calls, players, plays – pop back into my head like they were yesterday. 

The other was looking at the “record section” that Neal put together: At the top of the list, for points scored per game (minimum 50 games) was the San Diego Surge at 51.5. Over the years, from 2011-15, no one scored more points per game than us. Now, to be sure I’d trade that distinction for a couple more National Championship wins, but lacking those, I’ll take the notoriety where I can get it! The great thing about that was that it was a true total staff effort - in 2011 Mike Vargas was the OC, in 2012 it was Mike Suggett, in 2013 it was me and in 2014-15 it was Carrie Suggett.

Really, you should pick up a copy. It is very comprehensive. I’ve already sent over some player rosters from the old SoCal Scorpions, so that they can get updated in the next edition. I would encourage (as would Neal himself I think) anyone that has that type of information to send it over to him.

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I think that’s about it for this week – not a lot going on, and there’s no need for me to just blather on…..so I’ll see you next week!