Tampa Bay Strikers set to kick off inaugural season

TAMPA, Fla. - Nico Meola thought his life as a soccer player was long behind him, but he knew he still wanted to play. 

"My college career ended with a loss in the national championship, so I've been sitting on that for the three years waiting for an opportunity to kind of avenge it," said Meola. 

Meola's opportunity for vengeance came when former Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Martin Gramatica approached Meola during a pick-up game of soccer with an offer – an offer to potentially play professional soccer.

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"He invited me to a tryout and wouldn't let me leave without signing a contract, so I was honored," Meola remembered. 

Gramatica has long since hung up his shoulder pads and picked up his soccer boots once more as the head coach of Tampa Bay's news professional sports team: The Tampa Bay Strikers. 

Ever since taking the job of Tampa's new indoor soccer team, Gramatica and his staff have been scouring the area trying to find the Bay's best to fill out the rosters of both the Strikers' men's and women's teams. 

"It's tough when you start two teams from scratch," said Gramatica. "We had the open tryouts where we had about 120 players come out." 

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For the last few weeks, both teams have been braving early morning practices as they get ready for their debut on Sunday.

"I've been waiting for this since summer when I knew I would be on the team," said midfielder Brianna Blethen. "It's been a long time coming, and I'm ready to kick it off." 

So far, there has only been one catch. The Strikers will play their home games inside the Yuengling Center on the University of South Florida campus but have, so far, been unable to practice on or even see their new field. 

"One of our team rules with Coach [Tony] Dungy was ‘No Excuses.’ That's what I'm telling the players. We're not going to make any excuses," said Gramatica. 

The teams will, however, have a chance to see their home turf for the first time a day before their season debut where they will get the chance to practice on their new field. 

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Meanwhile, under Gramatica, the Strikers will look to embrace Tampa Bay's most recent sports tradition – winning. 

"We've got Super Bowls here; we've got Stanley Cups here. We want to make sure we keep that same tradition and go for that championship," Gramatica said. 

The Strikers officially kick off their season with both the men's and women's teams playing the Columbus Rapids at the Yuengling Center starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday.