Scene from Carolina Energy VS Carolina Aviators/ Photo Credits: Interrupted Blogs
Charlotte, NC— May 11, 2019- Carolina Energy, a professional arena football team beat out opponents Carolina Aviators with a 72 to 6 lead at the Bojangles Coliseum, 2700 E Independence Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28205 .
Carolina Energy is running their second 10-game season. If you were wondering, Professional Arena Football is different than the NFL. It’s an indoor 50 yard turf field where players battle it out for the same common goal… a championship.
According to the head coach of Carolina Energy, Ervin Bryson, “Professional Arena Football is an opportunity for guys to come, who’ve played in the NFL, who are coming out of college, to get an opportunity to continue playing football so they can move back up to the NFL. Part of the process, for one, is helping the ball player get to the next level. The second [thing] is to allow the fans to come out and have a blast. This is one time that you can go to a football game, and you can be someone else besides yourself. You can have a good time. The kids are on the field having fun. Parents are letting kids loose, and letting them do their thing.”
Coach Bryson/ Photo Credits: Carolina Energy
'My whole goal is to bring family together,” he says.
Another power point for the team is that a portion of their contributions from ticket sells/ proceeds goes towards different organizations. For instance, the theme for their next game is "First Responder's and Turning Point Night." They plan to make donations to the Battered Women's Shelter, where first responder's will be on-sight to help facilitate the cause.
"As you know, we're all living our own life, but there are other people going through things a lot worse than we are. If we can find a way to give back or contribute, our community and our society is going to start getting better, because we are not caring for our neighbors the way we should" he says. "I want to make sure that it starts with the Carolina Energy, and that we are giving back the way we should, cheerfully."
As a die-hard lover of the sport, it’s no secret that Coach Bryson played arena football as well, which explains his passion for the game. Bryson played for the Columbia Cougars (PSFL), Concord Storm (AFA), Connecticut Coyotes (AFL). According to a bio on https://www.carolinaenergyfootball.com/staff, the prestigious coach was invited to tryout with several NFL teams including the [Top Cats] Carolina Panthers.
This is Ervin Bryson’s 2nd year as the head coach for Carolina Energy. The graduate of Bowie State University coached with other prime teams, before landing in Charlotte, including Greenville Panthers (AFA), Carolina Rhinos (AF2), Winston Salem Energy (NIFL), Sioux City Bandits (NIFL), Daytona Beach Hawgs (NIFL), Daytona Beach Thunder (AIFL), Ohio Valley Greyhounds (UIF), Macon Steele (AIFL), Carolina Speed (AIFA), and the Vermont Bucks (CAN-AM).
In 2018, Carolina Energy lost in the playoffs to the West Virginia Roughriders who had a 57 to 43 lead. Carolina Energy commenced January of 2018, while kicking off the season March 2018 with an impressive 7 wins and 3 losses. They practiced for a couple of months before their season opener. Bryson started the team with unbeatable conviction, which is still true for the 2019 roster.
He mentioned that he'd like for the Carolina Energy to be the first to win a Championship in Charlotte, NC.
“Secondly, we want to build a fan-base—We want the community to embrace us,” he says. “We want to go out, like we’re doing now, and spend time in the schools, sharing our stories, and helping kids [to] have a better future. A lot of times, we get so caught up in what we’re doing and we forget about the kids behind us. Those are the ones that need to be lifted up. Our goal is to lift our community up [and] put a positive spin [on things], and put energy into everything that we do so we can make our community better than what it is.”
There is opportunity for growth with the players, where they don’t sign contracts traditional to NFL players; however, the players are compensated. Not to mention, when the season is up, Bryson is looking for other players to join the team. His philosophy beckons with a no dictatorship clause. What that means is that each player has a chance to level up from his position or go on to something else altogether. This leaves room for new athletes to join the team, who are hungry and thirsty for a win.
“If we continue with the same ball players, they become complacent and they don’t want to do community things. They don’t want to sign autographs and they become bigger than the game. With me, I like giving brand new ball players a chance. Our whole goal is to move guys up to the next level, and at the same time, we are giving people a chance to win. I might be the head coach but you can’t tell, because with everything that we do, it’s a vote. We must have everyone’s input. If I just slam the hammer down, it’ll be all about me and it’s not about me. I want to hear your opinion. Everyone has an opinion. We just need to listen.”
Remarkably, Bryson’s brother Monterey Evans, is the defensive coordinator for Carolina Energy. “We really go at it in practice. The defense and offense go at it. We compete really hard, but at the end of the day, everyone knows that we are brothers. I would die for him. We love each other. That, fire and passion spills over into our team. Our ball players really love each other, and they enjoy each other."
Along with the family dynamics and the sweeping embrace of the team, they support one another. “We must prepare the guys for after football. That’s what I love about our team. It gives us an opportunity to talk about those things we need to talk about. Many of the high school students that graduated, are still not ready for life. That’s the reason many of them are out on the streets," Bryson emphasized.
There is a educational component linked to the football team, which goes beyond the Any Given Sunday vibes—In this game, there are winners on and off the team. Bryson contributes that passionate attribution to his own upbringing of living in the projects, with his mom, who was a single mother making ends meet.
“There were 85 houses and out of 85 houses, only 2 out of the 85 were married couples. Out of that 2, the rest were single women raising the entire community, and they did an outstanding job. For me, even though I’m striving with the team, I feel like I need to come up with things to keep Carolina Energy together.”
25 year-old Linebacker and Defense, Lazarus Shelby 2nd Season with Carolina Energy Professional Arena Football
Leon Hill 27-year-old Center and Quarterback Steffon Colon Carolina Energy
Carolina Energy vs. Carolina Aviators Highlight video showing still undefeated Carolina Energy win over Carolina Aviators courtesy of Carolina Energy
Check out their Facebook Page here. Get tickets here for Carolina Energy vs. Cape Fear Heroes Sat May 25 1:pm Kickoff.