"Hall Pass" - The Official Ironmen Blog of Ryan Hall

As we come closer to the season opener on Sunday, I wanted to take a look at the past two weeks which was the Ironmen's preseason. Things look great so far in the Ironmen camp. I was fortunate enough to play with a team in Cleveland during the 04-05 season that lost in the finals but was loaded from top to bottom with some of the best talent and legends of the game (i.e. Hector Marinaro, Zoran Karic, and Otto Orf). There is no doubt in my mind that this team has equal to if not more talent than the one in Cleveland. It is not a question of if we will win but how many we will win......
Our preseason started on December 1st and for the first week the team went through two-a-days. We would spend the morning sessions on tactics and skills while the afternoons were focused more on fitness. I have to admit, no matter how many times you go through two-a-days, they never get easier. My legs were sore for the majority of last week. On Saturday we had a scrimmage and I think most of the guys were excited to get out and play against some fresh competition. The game went well as expected. We played five quarters with a running clock. It gave us the opportunity to get used to one another during the flow of a game and also allowed coach Namazi to see some of the newer guys in a game-like situations. This past week was toned down a little a focused primarily on the upcoming game against Chicago. It also gave us the time to get our legs back so that we will be fresh going into the game. Although it has been a hectic two weeks it has also been a productive two weeks. I had to balance the schedule of two practices a day while moving into our new apartment and trying to get use to the Newark area. Now that things have settled, I think I speak for everyone when i say "Bring on Chicago!!!" Look forward to seeing you at the game! Tune in for the next blog when I discuss apartment wars and New Jersey traffic.