AFL open tryout...for fun...

[Billy Wolt]

The NY Dragons are having an open tryout at the end of Sept...i'm considering going for fun.

A few questions for experienced players..

Are tryouts position based?

what can I expect?

I'm a bit short (5'9-10"). I can sprint well and have great hands. what position should would suit me?

Anything specific I should work on?


I'm not going with any real expectations, just gonna try my hardest and have some fun. The tryouts are too close for me to do any real preparation.

Perhaps if I have the slightest bit of potential, I may find some lower level organized team to join to get some experience.

[Brandon Clements "BC"]

Bill,

Have you ever played college ball any where? They will look at that first and foremost and the awards you got playing college ball.

You are going to get tested in the 40, shuttle, vertical, standing long jump and maybe 225 for reps. Then they usually have position specific drills too.

As far as expecting, there will be guys that played college ball and did not get drafted there. Then you will have you guys that think they are awesome because they use to be in high school or they kick but on their flag football league.

As far as being short and good hands and fast well maybe a running back but definitely not reciever or DB. They want recievers with some real height.

This is as much as I know from my days of doing my testing for NFL scouts when I played college ball. If you have anymore questions pm me.

[James Whisman]

I've been a scout at an open tryouts before for a semi-pro football team. If you go you'll, as Brandon said, see all types. If can be fun just to see how you measure up. Read the fine print, some of these "open tryouts" are held by scouting companies who will charge the athlete $50-100 to test then promise your test scores will be see by professional coaches.

At your height I'd go for full back / blocking back.

[Billy Wolt]

I've been a scout at an open tryouts before for a semi-pro football team. If you go you'll, as Brandon said, see all types. If can be fun just to see how you measure up. Read the fine print, some of these "open tryouts" are held by scouting companies who will charge the athlete $50-100 to test then promise your test scores will be see by professional coaches.

At your height I'd go for full back / blocking back.


FB it is :)

this open tryout is being held by the team itself. The coaches will be there...in fact, I got the info from emailing one of them.

[Sean Tennant]

I tried out for the Tampa Bay team a couple of years ago with some friends, really just for fun. We were a bunch of rugby players that thought it would be funny to show up after a little drinking, needless to say we were not invited back for a second day!

One thing I did see was that because the roster spots are so limited in AFL, you have a much better shot if you can play offense and defense. FB's usually also try and play LB, OL/DL, CB/WR, etc...

As a FB/LB you'll see a lot of side to side agility drills, obviously tackling and ball carrying skill are important, and definitely football awareness. I'd work on first step quickness, keeping yourself very low in agility drills, and practice some tackling and a lot of blocking.

Good luck, have fun!

[Tony Moses]

You can have some fun with it. While anything is possible and I'd never try to discourage, you never mentioned any football background, and by the nature of the questions asked, I'll ASSume as the saying goes that you never played any college ball at least.....while a far cry from the NFL, Arena 1 is NO joke by any stretch of the imagination and most of the guys on an AFL roster played either D 1 or 1-AA college ball.
A guy from my hometown is playing arena ball now and he played guard in college at U of Miami, started 40-some straight games, didn't give up 1 sack in college, won a national title, played 4-5 years in the NFL with the Falcons and Broncos, he either got cut or some such thing and now is in Arena 1...another guy I know played D II college ball, legit 500lb raw bencher, and he didn't cut it at an Arena 2 tryout.....back home we have an arena 2 team in wilkes-barre, PA and it is loaded with 1-A and 1-AA roster guys and plenty of former Penn St players didn't make the cut, and that is Arena 2, The Dragons are a level up......just saying this is a very high level of competition, it's not Wednesday Night softball followed by chicken wings, draft beer, and darts with past high school heroes and out-of-shape guys................it is filled with a portion of the around 90% of D 1 and 1-AA athletes who don't make it to the big show.....

For all I know, you're the next Barry Sanders, don't take what I said as me being negative, and by all means it will be a fun experience, they hold open tryouts after all.......just go in knowing that AFL is NO JOKE.

[Billy Wolt]

You can have some fun with it. While anything is possible and I'd never try to discourage, you never mentioned any football background, and by the nature of the questions asked, I'll ASSume as the saying goes that you never played any college ball at least.....while a far cry from the NFL, Arena 1 is NO joke by any stretch of the imagination and most of the guys on an AFL roster played either D 1 or 1-AA college ball.
A guy from my hometown is playing arena ball now and he played guard in college at U of Miami, started 40-some straight games, didn't give up 1 sack in college, won a national title, played 4-5 years in the NFL with the Falcons and Broncos, he either got cut or some such thing and now is in Arena 1...another guy I know played D II college ball, legit 500lb raw bencher, and he didn't cut it at an Arena 2 tryout.....back home we have an arena 2 team in wilkes-barre, PA and it is loaded with 1-A and 1-AA roster guys and plenty of former Penn St players didn't make the cut, and that is Arena 2, The Dragons are a level up......just saying this is a very high level of competition, it's not Wednesday Night softball followed by chicken wings, draft beer, and darts with past high school heroes and out-of-shape guys................it is filled with a portion of the around 90% of D 1 and 1-AA athletes who don't make it to the big show.....

For all I know, you're the next Barry Sanders, don't take what I said as me being negative, and by all means it will be a fun experience, they hold open tryouts after all.......just go in knowing that AFL is NO JOKE.


I know what your saying. Semi-pro teams are filled with tremendous athletes. I'm not saying i'm on par with any of them...hell, i probably don't have the ability for a level 2 arena.

These guys have probably been playing ball all their lives...i'm just going in expecting to have some fun and see how I stack up against athletes at that level. If i do "well" and actaully get some sort of consideration for a call back or whatever, it would be like winning the lotto :)


Sean,

I noticed alot of guys play two positions....i guess i'm screwed :D

[Matt Meinrod]

I know what your saying. Semi-pro teams are filled with tremendous athletes. I'm not saying i'm on par with any of them...hell, i probably don't have the ability for a level 2 arena.

These guys have probably been playing ball all their lives...i'm just going in expecting to have some fun and see how I stack up against athletes at that level. If i do "well" and actaully get some sort of consideration for a call back or whatever, it would be like winning the lotto :)


Sean,

I noticed alot of guys play two positions....i guess i'm screwed :D

Arena isn't semi-pro.

[Sean Tennant]

Sean,

I noticed alot of guys play two positions....i guess i'm screwed :)


I wouldn't say screwed...or maybe I would! Anyway, it'll be a lot of fun no matter what, I know I had a great time when I went!!

[tackle78]

Arena isn't semi-pro.


No it isn't. I was offered a contract with Grand Rapids last December, but it was very poor offer, and I was realistic about my future. I never went to an open try out, but I did do workouts with other players who had also just finished with college ball. Arena football is VERY competitive especially at the Arena 1 level. Good luck to ya, but you should understand how competitive that level is.

[Billy Wolt]

but you should understand how competitive that level is.


i absolutely know how ridiculous it is gonna be, nor am i going to the tryout because i think i could hold my own. It's just for fun, and to see where I stand when compared to elite players.

Just like when I've competed in strongman competitions, i know i'm not good enough to compete against most of the guys in my class, it's just for fun. I'll get better as i go along.


I called it semi-pro because i was compared to the NFL.

[jonboy]

The NY Dragons are having an open tryout at the end of Sept...i'm considering going for fun.

A few questions for experienced players..

Are tryouts position based?

what can I expect?

I'm a bit short (5'9-10"). I can sprint well and have great hands. what position should would suit me?

Anything specific I should work on?


I'm not going with any real expectations, just gonna try my hardest and have some fun. The tryouts are too close for me to do any real preparation.

Perhaps if I have the slightest bit of potential, I may find some lower level organized team to join to get some experience.

Have you ever played football?

[Billy Wolt]

Have you ever played football?


just some HS...which is equal to nothing :)

[Ian Duggan]

I would say go for it, and see what happens.

Equally, I would say be aware that there's a good chance of getting hurt.

A guy I know who is still in good shape (played football in the US at college level) went along to a local Div 1 rugby team tryout a few years ago and was hurting for weeks. They were actually interested in him (he claims) because of his speed, but he said there's no way he could take the punishment each week.

[Billy Wolt]

the tryouts are a month away.

I've been doing some research and you guys are probably right, i'm in wayyyy over my head...i think.

The closest AF2 team is in Albany (6 hours away), so semi pro might be the best option for now.

i was searching for some semi-pro teams in the area to get some experience, and found a bunch, but their seasons are almost over.

my gym has a once/week sports conditioning class...ladder drills, plyos, cone drills, etc. I'm gonna hop in on it just to see if i have decent agility and to see how my body reacts to that type of training. I don't want to make a complete fool out of myself at the AFL tryout.

[Brandon Clements "BC"]

the tryouts are a month away.

I've been doing some research and you guys are probably right, i'm in wayyyy over my head...i think.

The closest AF2 team is in Albany (6 hours away), so semi pro might be the best option for now.

i was searching for some semi-pro teams in the area to get some experience, and found a bunch, but their seasons are almost over.

my gym has a once/week sports conditioning class...ladder drills, plyos, cone drills, etc. I'm gonna hop in on it just to see if i have decent agility and to see how my body reacts to that type of training. I don't want to make a complete fool out of myself at the AFL tryout.

Semi-Pro Teams amaxing are compiled of draft rejected players that are trying to get there foot in the door as a pro. So you will see pretty much all these guys are college ball players too.

[JoeCSnavely]

the tryouts are a month away.


i was searching for some semi-pro teams in the area to get some experience, and found a bunch, but their seasons are almost over.

my gym has a once/week sports conditioning class...ladder drills, plyos, cone drills, etc. I'm gonna hop in on it just to see if i have decent agility and to see how my body reacts to that type of training. I don't want to make a complete fool out of myself at the AFL tryout.

Good idea there. Semi pro teams are only as good as the players that are willing to file the roster and practice, AFL 1 is definitely no joke. The more quality Semi programs have some afiliation with a pro entity of some sort. I know of a couple "semi-pro" teams that tend to use bodies to fill their roster where talent lacks. If you have enough agility to play fullback then you can defnitely play LB, just a matter of what level. The concept and instincts at LB always came more natural for me. Find ball and go get it.

I definitely found since becoming involved in SM, my footspeed has decreased quite a bit from the nature of the training. A solid month of agility should bring a lot back. Take a look a T-drills, W- drills and box drills in addition to the staples mentioned previously. Good luck man!!!

[Billy Wolt]

Good idea there. Semi pro teams are only as good as the players that are willing to file the roster and practice, AFL 1 is definitely no joke. The more quality Semi programs have some afiliation with a pro entity of some sort. I know of a couple "semi-pro" teams that tend to use bodies to fill their roster where talent lacks. If you have enough agility to play fullback then you can defnitely play LB, just a matter of what level. The concept and instincts at LB always came more natural for me. Find ball and go get it.

I definitely found since becoming involved in SM, my footspeed has decreased quite a bit from the nature of the training. A solid month of agility should bring a lot back. Take a look a T-drills, W- drills and box drills in addition to the staples mentioned previously. Good luck man!!!


thx man.

I think i have more of that LB instinct as well. when i did play in hs, or with friends (we would play in full equipment), going after the ball and running over anything in my way was my strong points.

I spoke with a couple of teams today...one is halfway through the season and told me to come down to practice. there are only 5 games left. they practice 10 minutes from my house.

the other is just starting in two weeks, but from the sounds of it, they need to fill the position i said i was interested and said as long as i had some ability, i would play. not sure if i want that kind of environment though. besides, its not really that close to my house.

Looks like i thought about this a bit too late.