Battle Creek Crunch Conduct Second Player Tryout
by Randy Snow
January 16, 2006 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Battle Creek Crunch
The Battle Creek Crunch of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League conducted a second player tryout on Sunday, January 15. It was held, once again, in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the Kalamazoo Indoor Center, an indoor soccer facility. Thirty players, who took part in the first open tryout last month, were invited back for a second look. Another 15 players also showed up to try out for the Crunch for the first time, bringing the total number of participants to about 45 players in all.
"I think it's going to be important in this league to make sure that we do a good job of scouring the local area to get some local name guys (on the team)," said Crunch Head Coach Bob Kubiak.
Only the first time participants were put through agility drills like those who came to the tryout last month. Once that was done, the rest of the time was spent running plays during seven-on-seven drills.
Team owner Mike Powell, who was unable to attend the first tryout in December, was on hand this time around and liked what he saw on the practice field. He is impressed with some of the local talent, but he is also trying to put together a third player tryout in the Detroit area. "We're actually trying to nail down a facility (in Detroit) in the next couple of weeks," said Powell. "If we can get that done, it will give us a chance to take a look at some of the Detroit guys that we've already taken a look at and possibly see if there's anyone else that we might be interested in as well." Powell said he hopes to have his first players signed sometime during the first two weeks of February.
Due to the lack of an indoor facility with a high enough ceiling in the immediate Battle Creek/Kalamazoo area, the team will hold a tryout for kickers in Grand Rapids in the near future. The Crunch have been invited by the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League's to hold the kicker tryout at the Soccer Spot, the Rampage indoor practice facility. In late December, Coach Kubiak was on hand in Grand Rapids to observe a kicker tryout conducted by the Rampage.
The Crunch will hold a mini camp beginning on February 18 with about 40-45 players. They will officially begin training camp for the season during the first week in March and will have to trim their roster the league required 22 players before their first game on April 7. The Crunch open the season at home against cross state rival, the Port Huron Pirates.
Battle Creek has also been given an extra roster spot by the league this year in order to accommodate Ted Kluck, a freelance sports writer who will chronicle his experiences playing on the team for ESPN.com. It is reminiscent of what George Plimpton did while writing the book, "Paper Lion." The first article by Kluck, which tells of his participation in the first Crunch open tryout, has already been posted on the ESPN website.
Randy Snow lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan and also covers the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan.com.
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Continental Indoor Football League Stories from January 16, 2006
- Crunch News and Notes -- January - Battle Creek Crunch
- Battle Creek Crunch Conduct Second Player Tryout - OSC Original by Randy Snow
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
