Southwest Kansas Storm Playbook: Game Week!

The wait is almost over! It’s game week in Dodge City. The Southwest Kansas Storm of Arena Football One kick off their season this week. They’ll host the league's inaugural game against the Nashville Kats at the United Wireless Arena in Dodge City, Kansas: on Saturday, March 8th at 7:00 p.m. ET streaming on EvergreenNOW. 

Keeping focused

Training camp has ended, and the Storm are now in game-prep mode. The twists and turns of getting this league off the ground haven’t bothered the team one bit. That’s something Coach Gary Thomas can rally the team around. 

While their opponent may have changed, their goal hasn’t. Show up and play the game the Storm way. One advantage is you don’t know exactly what any team is going to bring. The team handled the news well of the opponent change Coach Thomas said “the guys handled it like pros and we had what I felt like was a great practice, they were locked in.”

it's game week

The Storm have been focused on sharpening their skills and being the best version of “us.” Coach Thomas wants to control the game and play Storm-style football. “We’re ready to play Nashville, and we won’t skip a beat.” 

Tuesday and Wednesday were another round of meetings and practice, with attention shifting to the Nashville Kats led by their Head Coach Darren Arbet. Coach Thomas is under no illusion that this team coached by the Hall of Famer isn’t going to be ready just because their schedule got moved up. “He knows exactly what he is doing,” Coach Thomas said in reference to Coach Arbet. 

Thursday the team will grind on special teams and put the finishing touches on offense and defense as well as focus on their goal line prep and one minute drill. They might even throw in a trick play to wow the fans in Dodge City Saturday. Friday is the final walk-through before gameday. 

The Southwest Kansas Storm are prepped and ready to begin their Arena One title hunt on Saturday.