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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt is the TAASL! (Tropics Adult Arena Soccer League)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Brainchild of Tropics GM Andrew Ross and\nCommish\/Captain\/Player Ben McConnell the TAASL is in its fourth season, operating\nconcurrently with the parent organization, The Florida Tropics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McConnell comments: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring the Tropics first season, they would have people put\non \u201cbubble suits\u201d at halftime and play a short game of something that resembles\nsoccer but was more like human pinball, so I went to Andrew and told him I\nwould like to bring two teams of local adult players to play during a\nhalftime. During our conversation I came\nto realize that on Tropics game days the soccer arena was set up all day, so we\nturned the conversation towards forming an actual league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe first season was rather limited as we started late in\nthe Tropics season and didn\u2019t have a lot of time to get organized, however, we\nwanted to show the Tropics and the RP Funding Center administration that we\ncould successfully organize and field a league and that is what we did. Games were short, only 30 minutes, with volunteer referees, but a schedule was completed and a champion\nwas crowned. The next season we went to\n50 minute games with a paid referee and a championship trophy and shirts\nawarded to the top team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe current season is composed of six teams playing six\ngames, each team plays all other team once with the sixth game being a pairing\nof Teams #1 and #2 (for the championship) teams #3 and #4 and teams # 5 and\n#6. The league is modeled after the MASL\nwith five field players and a goalkeeper, however, it is a co-ed league with\none female player being present on the field for each team. Rules are kept very basic and there is no\nslide tackling allowed. There are no\nage restrictions, with players of all ages participating. Teams are mostly sponsored with several area\nbusinesses already active in promoting adult soccer stepping up to help with\nleague fees. In addition there is a club\nteam composed of international students from Florida Polytechnic University\nwhich represents the first athletic endeavor in the school\u2019s history! \u201cThe response has been nothing but positive\u201d\nMcConnell notes, \u201cwe are giving local players an experience totally new to Polk\nCounty; the nearest true indoor facility\nis in either Tampa or Orlando so it is really unique to be able to drive\ndowntown and play right here in Lakeland. \nThe arena pitch is professional dimensions (200 feet long x 85 feet wide) which adds to the experience\nsince every players fitness is taxed to the limit-it is a monster to play\non! We hope to continue to work and expand with\nthe Tropics organization, the footprint is in place for year round leagues when\nand if an independent indoor facility is built in Polk County, there has been\nmuch discussion about this; it is an\nenormous undertaking in investment that will hopefully come to be realized as\nsuch an investment will pay back in the local soccer community from youth right\nup to the pros. Meanwhile we hope to\nexpand the TAASL at the arena next season with more teams and dates-right now\nwe are tied to the Tropics schedule so we have to wait until that is issued\neach season to see what dates we can work with. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n