Try that New York dragon made me breathe fire.
It has extended by Long Island that the sand soccer team, which called the venerated home of the Nassau coliseum in the 2000s, is doing a highly anticipated return in 516 this June.
As some who grew up with the emotion of seeing black and built fighters, I had to throw my hat or rather, my helmet in the ring with some of the best tests on Tuesday night for the opportunity to make the entertainment football team).
For the first time in years, I was hitting locking pads, shooting from my latent line posture or, doing fast -cut agility, race routes and, unfortunately, a 20 -yard race while trying to keep the head camp.
But well, I didn’t expect anything easy. Chief coach Gerald Filarardi, a well -known LI football figure who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and currently trains Half Hollow Hills West, has a high level.
“We have a regular season of eight games, but we are going to play 10 games because we are winning the championship,” he told me about the next inaugural season.
“You have to win in New York. That is what fans want, and for that we are playing.”
Men in the sand
Fortunately, Filarardi did some recruitment beyond a less physical main individual, being a third chain center at the JV level only takes you so far and brought many of his former players they have demonstrated.
“It is a complete circle that returns now,” said Kendall Clark, 24, a former Stony Brook Safety who played for Filarardi in several teams since he was 10 years old.
“I hoped to be here … but he called me. I was in the fence, but I pledged full.”
Brian Bun, 27, who played basketball in Green Mountain College in Vermont, meets Filarardi professionally and was attracted to get out of defensive.
“I will be honest with you, I didn’t know about dragons,” Bun confessed, who has played football since the age of 5 and is in a weekend league. However, after doing a homework, and seeing that Filarardi had won several titles of the division, was sold.
“Besides, I really love contact,” Bun said.
The blind side
It turns out that you lose one or two steps after not playing football since 2011.
I realized that I was on my head from the beginning when the coaches kept chronometers and committed a sun watch for my sprint time. While looking back in a video or I trying an agility exercise in Zig-Zag around some cones, it became clear that my maniouverity was like that of a base round of bases for the first time.
Even so, I found moral victories in small things, such as making a 15 -yard capture with a hanging time of eight seconds and just being able to break a ball at chest.
Mentally I tuned that the nose guard reached the field marshal before leaving my position.
However, when it is time to hit the locking pads, I thought I was holding mine.
That was, until I saw D-Lineman Robert Digiororgio Explosive Fire to turn his turn.
Bay Shore’s adjusted asset, 44, tested for dragons 20 years ago, and after a career at the semi-professional level more playing flag football regularly, Digiorgio wanted a last crack.
“It makes me feel that I still have something in the tank at my age,” he said. “I would definitely be a son of a story of Cinderella. I come here, I cooled everything, and that’s all I could do.”
Digiorgio’s license mentality and everything in the field is exactly what Filarardi wants from his men.
“That is a great thing for me to train. While you bring effort, you make things happen,” said Filarardi.
“The effort is there,” he heard kindly fought on my performance.
Not only did my word take that Filarardi is a true leader. Another of his former athletes, the 22 -year -old defensive, are worth Richardson, called him a “player’s coach.”
“It would be great to play again for him.”
The General Manager Peter Schwartz has his reduced work when it comes to these real athletes who have the opportunity to make the list.
“When I, this work, wanted this to be a team that Long Island would be proud or,” he said. “I think we have a lot of talent here, much without exploiting.”