Day 1 of NSC Minnesota Stars 2011 Combine
The NSC Minnesota Stars combine got underway this morning at the National Sports Center. 45 players were invited into camp to try out for the Stars, with each player having dreams of playing professionally. Last year’s Stars team and past Thunder teams averaged 65-70 players at a combine, so the numbers are a bit lighter this season.
The combine runs through Friday morning. The public is invited to watch, and tomorrow’s schedule is from 8 a.m. – 11 a.m. and again from 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Friday’s session is only in the morning, running 8 a.m. – 11 a.m.
If any player makes the cut, he will be invited back to tryout with Stars next week when the players under contract gather for training. Head Coach Manny Lagos said he also has a number of players invited to next week’s training who were either at the NASL combine or who he feels have a chance of making the Stars roster.
Minnesota Thunder and NSC Stars historian and jersey collector Scott Kerssen has gathered a full list of combine players along with hyperlinks to each player where he could find information concerning their young careers. You can find that here.
Also, Scott is once again conducting his contest to pick the player who will survive the combine and make the 2011 roster of the Stars; a fun game he’s been putting together for 5 years now. Scott gives away a signed jersey of his choice for the prize. For more information on the contest and how to enter please go here. Entries need to be posted by this Friday noon.
Here are some sights, sounds and interviews from the first day of the Stars combine.
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I had fun watching some soccer up at the “inside” Nessy today. It was great to see some other Stars supporters as well. Come on you Stars!
@BQ – Good stuff! Curious to know your opinion on Stars attendance this year. Do you anticipate any kind of increase? Has the team been doing much so far in the way of marketing or advertising?
Another quick question as well BQ. I asked awhile back and not sure you ever responded. I see you are still referring to the team as the NSC Stars, even though the NSC no longer has a stake in the team. Are they going to continue with the name anyway? I thought they’d just be the Minnesota Stars this year.
I would have thought they would have dropped the NSC as well, but they didn’t. I know it was knocked around a bit but I guess they decided there had been too many changes in recent years with the Thunder, then Stars.
I visited the front office yesterday which is really a little more like a cozy little basement office on the first floor of the NSC building across from the locker rooms. The already have 3 sales persons and have already sold as as many season tickets as they had all of last year. Perhaps that’s not saying a lot with the inept ticket sales that happened with the NSC last season, but it’s a start. Not exactly sure what that number (season tickets sold) is. Meant to ask and got distracted.
@BQ – I think the mantra of this year needs to be, let’s just up the numbers from last season in each market. One would think that with just some kind of effort to get the team more community exposure they should be able to beat their 1,374 number from last year. The Strikers are going to absolutely crush the Miami FC numbers. I’m even betting they can average more than the last three years of Miami FC combined (approx. 3,900). The Strikers are definitely back, and South Florida is embracing them. You know Montreal will continue to be the class of the league at the gate. If Tampa, and Carolina can also see even slight upticks, that leaves the two new teams in Edmonton and Atlanta. If those two teams combined can show an increase over the combined totals of CP Baltimore and AC St. Louis that the league lost, I think overall you would be going in the right direction, and would be a great positive for the league to build on in its first year.
If I didn’t visit this site I wouldn’t even know we had a team in the state.
Anyone want to be a 5′er that Greg Rosenthal makes the team from the combine?
be= bet
You and Scott both make this a really enjoyable week. This is sort of a pointless time of year to be a fan of American soccer, and it’s tidbits like this that keep me excited.
Bet a fiver?! Why not win a free autographed jersey? Follow the links in the story above and enter. The deadline is close!