Post by fwp on Nov 18, 2009 22:27:33 GMT -5
www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/1017080.html
WASILLA -- From coaching pre-teens playing their first game to running professional-level players through drills, coach Hans Deemer lives and breathes football. Now the lifelong football fanatic is leading a professional indoor football team whose home is the Menard Sports Center in Wasilla.
Deemer is coach and creator of the Alaska Predators, a team that will begin playing in March. The Predators will compete with in-state IFL teams Alaska Wild in Anchorage and the Fairbanks Grizzlies, and with 21 teams across the Lower 48.
Deemer is known outside the Valley because he coached the Wild for nearly two years in Anchorage until resigning in January. In the Valley, he's known for the coaching he did at Colony and Palmer high schools, with youth football leagues and for the volunteer work he and his family does with groups like Special Olympics.
Monday was a big day for Deemer -- his team called a press conference to celebrate being accepted into the IFL. Team owners Chris Kokalis of Wisconsin and Ken Moninski of Seattle and formerly Alaska were there to help make the announcement and to discuss the upcoming season.
Deemer took a few minutes to talk about the Predators and why he thinks Wasilla is a good home for his team. Below are excerpts of our interview.
Q. You were with Alaska Wild nearly two years. Why did you leave the team?
A. I felt that if I stayed there and tried to do this, it would be a conflict of interest, so I resigned. I've been working on this since last January.
Q. Why do you think Wasilla is the right home for the Predators?
A. The first year with the Wild I visited some of the other towns, a lot of them were small towns in Texas. It seems the smaller towns were the most successful.
I believe there will be people to buy tickets here. The exhibition game (held at Menard Sports Center on March 17 between the Wild and the Grizzlies) filled the arena. It was 1,600 to 1,800 people, I was told.
Q. Did you have trouble getting investors, getting funding lined up?
A. I had some local business people who talked with me -- one in particular, he wanted to remain nameless. He told me a ton (about running the business end). That helped me approach the whole situation in a different way.
Q. Alaska Wild has had a tough time finding a solid foundation. Will the Predators be different?
A. Foundation, in football, begins at the top. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. They've got a lot of pieces in place that they haven't previously. They are moving in a positive direction. Adding a third team, financially it will help.
Q. What do you think will make the Predators successful?
A. Community involvement. We're going to put on a family oriented show. And the timing of the season (which starts in March). By that time in Alaska even people who love to snowmachine are sick of snowmachining. I see it every year. Then when we start up, they're ready for it.
Q. Do you have attendance targets that you need to reach to make the team financially viable?
A. I think we all (Deemer and team owners Kokalis and Moninski) have targets in our heads. We're going to get them together.
We only suit 20 players. We only play eight on eight. So that makes it much more financially possible.
Q. Right now you don't have players though. Do you have a potential roster?
A. I have some guys I'm going to go after. We had some pre-set-up talks.
Q. Are you holding open tryouts?
A. I haven't scheduled that yet.
Q. You don't have a team, but you do have a dance team already. How did that happen?
A. That's my wife (Michelle Deemer). Once we got going with the team, she stepped up and said we really needed to have (the dance team) helping promote the team. She put a group together and they've done performances.
WASILLA -- From coaching pre-teens playing their first game to running professional-level players through drills, coach Hans Deemer lives and breathes football. Now the lifelong football fanatic is leading a professional indoor football team whose home is the Menard Sports Center in Wasilla.
Deemer is coach and creator of the Alaska Predators, a team that will begin playing in March. The Predators will compete with in-state IFL teams Alaska Wild in Anchorage and the Fairbanks Grizzlies, and with 21 teams across the Lower 48.
Deemer is known outside the Valley because he coached the Wild for nearly two years in Anchorage until resigning in January. In the Valley, he's known for the coaching he did at Colony and Palmer high schools, with youth football leagues and for the volunteer work he and his family does with groups like Special Olympics.
Monday was a big day for Deemer -- his team called a press conference to celebrate being accepted into the IFL. Team owners Chris Kokalis of Wisconsin and Ken Moninski of Seattle and formerly Alaska were there to help make the announcement and to discuss the upcoming season.
Deemer took a few minutes to talk about the Predators and why he thinks Wasilla is a good home for his team. Below are excerpts of our interview.
Q. You were with Alaska Wild nearly two years. Why did you leave the team?
A. I felt that if I stayed there and tried to do this, it would be a conflict of interest, so I resigned. I've been working on this since last January.
Q. Why do you think Wasilla is the right home for the Predators?
A. The first year with the Wild I visited some of the other towns, a lot of them were small towns in Texas. It seems the smaller towns were the most successful.
I believe there will be people to buy tickets here. The exhibition game (held at Menard Sports Center on March 17 between the Wild and the Grizzlies) filled the arena. It was 1,600 to 1,800 people, I was told.
Q. Did you have trouble getting investors, getting funding lined up?
A. I had some local business people who talked with me -- one in particular, he wanted to remain nameless. He told me a ton (about running the business end). That helped me approach the whole situation in a different way.
Q. Alaska Wild has had a tough time finding a solid foundation. Will the Predators be different?
A. Foundation, in football, begins at the top. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. They've got a lot of pieces in place that they haven't previously. They are moving in a positive direction. Adding a third team, financially it will help.
Q. What do you think will make the Predators successful?
A. Community involvement. We're going to put on a family oriented show. And the timing of the season (which starts in March). By that time in Alaska even people who love to snowmachine are sick of snowmachining. I see it every year. Then when we start up, they're ready for it.
Q. Do you have attendance targets that you need to reach to make the team financially viable?
A. I think we all (Deemer and team owners Kokalis and Moninski) have targets in our heads. We're going to get them together.
We only suit 20 players. We only play eight on eight. So that makes it much more financially possible.
Q. Right now you don't have players though. Do you have a potential roster?
A. I have some guys I'm going to go after. We had some pre-set-up talks.
Q. Are you holding open tryouts?
A. I haven't scheduled that yet.
Q. You don't have a team, but you do have a dance team already. How did that happen?
A. That's my wife (Michelle Deemer). Once we got going with the team, she stepped up and said we really needed to have (the dance team) helping promote the team. She put a group together and they've done performances.