Gladiators already preparing for opener

Adam Candee

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005 | 9:11 a.m.

* WHO: Los Angeles Avengers vs. Las Vegas Gladiators

* WHEN: Noon, Jan. 30

* WHERE: Thomas & Mack Center

* TICKETS: Season tickets range from $103-$490 and can be ordered online at lvgladiators.com/tickets

Measuring the cohesiveness or chemistry of a team is about as impossible as teaching a pig to sing, admittedly with less frustration involved.

But the fact that the Gladiators are already game-planning for their opener against Los Angeles with a week left in training camp is pretty solid proof that they are already starting to come together.

Considering that Gladiators players and coaches blame last year's 3-6 hole in large part on the team's unfamiliarity with each other, it's especially good news for a team expected to contend in 2005.

"They're playing together at a higher level than they were early last year," Gladiators head coach Ron James said after Monday's practice. "The players are taking more ownership."

Quarterback Clint Dolezel knows where his receivers are going to be. Linemen have a better sense of when to cover someone's back. Defensive backs develop a sense of where their partners are on the field.

It also doesn't hurt that a group of friendly faces that helped the team win five of its last six games was brought back intact, a sign from management that it believes.

"The locker room is a lot more relaxed and guys are a lot more comfortable with each other," Dolezel said. "Ownership did the job to bring in the players at key spots that we were missing last year."

Offensive specialist Marcus Nash, who proved to be last year's key acquisition, sees a closer team.

"We definitely have that cohesiveness that we didn't have last year coming into training camp," Nash said.

When Dolezel, who won an ArenaBowl in Grand Rapids in 2001, looks around the locker room, he sees little that the Gladiators do not have. While all teams talk a big game in the preseason about their chances, Dolezel said, there is truth in those words in Las Vegas.

"They know what they're lacking," Dolezel said. "And I don't see us lacking a lot."

That's not to say that the roster is set for the Gladiators. James must still shed 13 players from the camp roster to get down to the league limit of 24 by Friday, with heavy competition continuing at the wide receiver and defensive back spots. James, though, is happy to make as many connections as possible with those skill players who are waging "cutthroat" battles for roster spots.

The team learned last year that depth at those spots is invaluable, as injuries to standout defensive back T.J. Hill and receiver Terrill Shaw contributed to the slow start. Complicating this year's roster situation even more is the presence of a pair of last year's starters in the secondary -- Hill and Chameion Sutton -- still looming on injured reserve.

"There's a lot that has to be done in these next few days," James said.

At the same time, most spots, especially in the starting lineup, are set, and that allows James to move forward with planning for the Avengers. The head start gives Las Vegas two weeks to prepare for a team that it lost to twice last season, with the second loss ending the Gladiators' playoff hopes.

The veterans are ready to get out of the two-a-day camp mode and fully into preparing for the Jan. 30 home date with Los Angeles.

"They're tired already, no doubt about it," James said. "Camp tests you physically and mentally."

Even though the Arena Football League phased out preseason games and most teams just try to fit a scrimmage or two into their three weeks of preparation for the season, training camp still feels long during two-a-days. "Anytime you are practicing two times a day, it all feels the same," Nash said.

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