The Barnstormers Prepare For First Scrimmage

The Iowa Barnstormers training camp continues with Wednesday being the first day in pads

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Iowa Barnstomers Coach Mike Hohensee said he was looking forward to Wednesday, “It’s the first day of pads.” Rules for arena football state that 3 days of practice are needed before pads are used.

Hohensee said that practices are going well, “we’re throwing a lot at them early”, and he says that by Tuesday of next week they will have everything when they will “start fine tuning it.” “Right now we’re giving them a lot of information, their brains are being scrambled right now, a little bit, and their bodies are being depleted, a little bit, but you know.”

“Their taking care of themselves, their working extremely hard as if they want to play, and they’ve done everything we’ve asked them”, Hohensee said of the rigorous experience during the first week of training camp. “The veterans have really come prepared, they’ve taken the leadership role and done a great job with it”.

Coach Hohensee said that he’s really excited “about the caliber of athlete we have in every position, these guys have been really competitive to this point.”

In his first year as head coach, Hohensee said one of the primary focuses has been to bond the players, and used the example of the group dinner the players had at the Peppertree. “It’s that extra opportunity to get them all together in a different way, as opposed to sitting back in their hotel room studying with one guy.”

The Barnstormers practices are open to the public in the mornings, but the team will be gone on Saturday as they will be traveling for a scrimmage, but will return for practice Sunday morning.