Post by Gene on Sept 27, 2007 7:47:41 GMT -5
By ANDREA GALABINSKI, nfmneighbor@breezenewspapers.com
Get ready football hopefuls! The new Florida Stingrays arena indoor football team will be holding tryouts for players Saturday, Oct. 6, and Sunday, Oct. 7.
The North Fort Myers-based Stingrays will make their debut in March 2008, with games played at the Lee Civic Center.
That weekend will be the first of three tryouts for the team. The action will take place at Buckingham Park in Fort Myers, located at 9800 Buckingham Rd. The tryouts are open to the public and former Houston Oiler player Henry Ford will be there and signing autographs.
“Players don’t have to be from Fort Myers, but we’re heavily recruiting in this area with the plethora of local talent,” said Stingrays Marketing Manager Jay Lawrence.
It’s an exciting time for local sports hero Lawrence, who only last month signed on to be the marketing manager for the team. He was the MVP of 1994 Cape Coral Seahawks district championship baseball team, and went on to play college baseball. Then in 1996, shortly before his 21st birthday, a tragic car accident left him confined to a wheelchair.
He began a home-based business, an air and water purification company called JCL Company (www.ecosafetech.com), and soon found he had a knack for marketing. The new football team was impressed with his credentials, his athletic background and his true love of sports.
“When I saw an opportunity to get back involved in sports and stoked that competitive fire, it looked like an exciting opportunity,” he said.
But Lawrence said the real reason he is promoting the new team is for the community.
“When I had my accident, a lot of people in the community — friends, family of friends and people I didn’t even know showed me such an incredible outpouring of love and support that I see working with the Florida Stingrays as an opportunity to give back.”
And he’s looking forward to seeing all those folks in the stands.
The thing Lawrence hopes to accomplish with this league team “is the hometown loyalty you see for a lot of northern football teams. That’s where everyone follows and goes to the games and gets to know the players,” he said. “We have a league rule that says the players stay on the field for at least one half hour after the game to meet fans, sign autographs, whatever.”
Players are 21 and up, and the team is looking to recruit local football talent who have the skill to play profesionally but need a venue to showcase their talents.
“Last year was the first year of the league, and we sent 55 players up to the major leagues — NFL, CFL or AFL. That’s more than any league nationwide,” said Lawrence.
The Florida Stingrays will be are part of the AIFA — American Indoor Football Association.
“It’s the eastern part of U.S. and there are 12 teams right now but we are expanding,” said Lawrence. “All games are inside in an arena and on a smaller field, and the fast-paced action and high-scoring has made it the fastest gowing sport in terms of popularity for children 8 to 18,” he explained. “Younger kids are starting to look at it as an exciting sport. Arena or indoor football is more than just a game, it’s more of an entertainment event. “
He said the team will be similar to AF2 League’s Firecats of Naples, “but we pay our players more and we have a national television deal to broadcast the games with Simply 4 Me TV and there will be a local TV affiliate televising local games as well as a national game of the week, playoffs and championships.”
The season will run from March to July, assuming the Stingrays make the playoffs which they plan on doing, according to Lawrence.
Lawrence is responsible for marketing, sponsorship and ticket sales.
“We’d like to stress we want it to be a hometown team, with hometown players and hometown sponsors — Fort Myers’ team.”
There’s a wide range of sponsorships available, including getting company logos on the field to jerseys to reserved seating to banners and advertising venues.
“Sponsorship opportunities have been a little hard to come by due to the Southwest Florida economy, but we feel that the success of the Stingrays will go a long way towards showing Florida Gulf Coast University that it’s time to start a football program, which would be a huge boost to the area economy,” said Lawrence. And advertising starts for as little as $30, and you can get in on the ground floor now he added.
Other “players” for the Stingrays include General Manager Gary Vaughn, team president and owner Sean Harrell and Jarrod Williams Sr. is the CEO.
“Gary was a football player in college, Sean played baseball and they all huge sports fans,” said Lawrence.
Coaches include Bryan Jernigen (BJ) who played for the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm. He coached the AIFA’s Gulf Coast Raiders last season.
Another is Bernard Edwards, a Fort Myers High graduate who played football at Ohio State and for the Storm, and coached the Fort Myers Tarpons in the only two games the NIFL team played last season. He will use the same defensive principles he did when he coached the Tarpons, pressure the quarterback and make plays on the ball.
The Oct. 6 and 7 tryouts will be the first of three tryouts held by the Stingrays. There will be a $50 charge to players trying out, and future dates will be announced.
For information on tryouts, call 338-3288. For information on sponsorships or advertising, call 458-4290.
North Fort Myers Neighbor
2787 N. Tamiami Trail
No. Fort Myers, FL 33903
(239) 656-4569
Get ready football hopefuls! The new Florida Stingrays arena indoor football team will be holding tryouts for players Saturday, Oct. 6, and Sunday, Oct. 7.
The North Fort Myers-based Stingrays will make their debut in March 2008, with games played at the Lee Civic Center.
That weekend will be the first of three tryouts for the team. The action will take place at Buckingham Park in Fort Myers, located at 9800 Buckingham Rd. The tryouts are open to the public and former Houston Oiler player Henry Ford will be there and signing autographs.
“Players don’t have to be from Fort Myers, but we’re heavily recruiting in this area with the plethora of local talent,” said Stingrays Marketing Manager Jay Lawrence.
It’s an exciting time for local sports hero Lawrence, who only last month signed on to be the marketing manager for the team. He was the MVP of 1994 Cape Coral Seahawks district championship baseball team, and went on to play college baseball. Then in 1996, shortly before his 21st birthday, a tragic car accident left him confined to a wheelchair.
He began a home-based business, an air and water purification company called JCL Company (www.ecosafetech.com), and soon found he had a knack for marketing. The new football team was impressed with his credentials, his athletic background and his true love of sports.
“When I saw an opportunity to get back involved in sports and stoked that competitive fire, it looked like an exciting opportunity,” he said.
But Lawrence said the real reason he is promoting the new team is for the community.
“When I had my accident, a lot of people in the community — friends, family of friends and people I didn’t even know showed me such an incredible outpouring of love and support that I see working with the Florida Stingrays as an opportunity to give back.”
And he’s looking forward to seeing all those folks in the stands.
The thing Lawrence hopes to accomplish with this league team “is the hometown loyalty you see for a lot of northern football teams. That’s where everyone follows and goes to the games and gets to know the players,” he said. “We have a league rule that says the players stay on the field for at least one half hour after the game to meet fans, sign autographs, whatever.”
Players are 21 and up, and the team is looking to recruit local football talent who have the skill to play profesionally but need a venue to showcase their talents.
“Last year was the first year of the league, and we sent 55 players up to the major leagues — NFL, CFL or AFL. That’s more than any league nationwide,” said Lawrence.
The Florida Stingrays will be are part of the AIFA — American Indoor Football Association.
“It’s the eastern part of U.S. and there are 12 teams right now but we are expanding,” said Lawrence. “All games are inside in an arena and on a smaller field, and the fast-paced action and high-scoring has made it the fastest gowing sport in terms of popularity for children 8 to 18,” he explained. “Younger kids are starting to look at it as an exciting sport. Arena or indoor football is more than just a game, it’s more of an entertainment event. “
He said the team will be similar to AF2 League’s Firecats of Naples, “but we pay our players more and we have a national television deal to broadcast the games with Simply 4 Me TV and there will be a local TV affiliate televising local games as well as a national game of the week, playoffs and championships.”
The season will run from March to July, assuming the Stingrays make the playoffs which they plan on doing, according to Lawrence.
Lawrence is responsible for marketing, sponsorship and ticket sales.
“We’d like to stress we want it to be a hometown team, with hometown players and hometown sponsors — Fort Myers’ team.”
There’s a wide range of sponsorships available, including getting company logos on the field to jerseys to reserved seating to banners and advertising venues.
“Sponsorship opportunities have been a little hard to come by due to the Southwest Florida economy, but we feel that the success of the Stingrays will go a long way towards showing Florida Gulf Coast University that it’s time to start a football program, which would be a huge boost to the area economy,” said Lawrence. And advertising starts for as little as $30, and you can get in on the ground floor now he added.
Other “players” for the Stingrays include General Manager Gary Vaughn, team president and owner Sean Harrell and Jarrod Williams Sr. is the CEO.
“Gary was a football player in college, Sean played baseball and they all huge sports fans,” said Lawrence.
Coaches include Bryan Jernigen (BJ) who played for the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm. He coached the AIFA’s Gulf Coast Raiders last season.
Another is Bernard Edwards, a Fort Myers High graduate who played football at Ohio State and for the Storm, and coached the Fort Myers Tarpons in the only two games the NIFL team played last season. He will use the same defensive principles he did when he coached the Tarpons, pressure the quarterback and make plays on the ball.
The Oct. 6 and 7 tryouts will be the first of three tryouts held by the Stingrays. There will be a $50 charge to players trying out, and future dates will be announced.
For information on tryouts, call 338-3288. For information on sponsorships or advertising, call 458-4290.
North Fort Myers Neighbor
2787 N. Tamiami Trail
No. Fort Myers, FL 33903
(239) 656-4569
55 players includes 1 coach as scout to the New Orleans, one DB to the Chiefs. Rest went to CFL, AFL, and AF1. You can verify with the league office for specific names. 
