IKEI Performance Announces Chang ready for the challenge
Scottsdale, AZ May 22, 2007 A long awaited opportunity is now sitting in front of Chang who will be battling for a spot on the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Hamilton Tigercats roster after being acquired in a trade this off-season from the Edmonton Eskimos. The CFL has been known to produce quality players especially in the quarterback position: Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia and Kurt Warner to name a few all of which became successful NFL quarterbacks. Could this be Chang's calling? Is he in the "right system?" Can he physically and mentally handle the pressure? Only time will tell, but Chang has done everything in his ability to make things happen.
Chang made a commitment to himself and his family to pursue his football career and suit up one more time. He made the decision to move to Arizona and train with Sports Performance Trainer Chad Ikei. For the past three (3) months Chang endured hours of intense weight training, critical speed and conditioning sessions, countless number of passing drills and strict nutritional guidelines, 6 days a week under the watchful eye of Ikei. Now all this hard work, sacrifice and commitment to transform his body from 18% body fat to a chiseled 8% is at an end, but realistically, it's only just the beginning. For the past 90-plus homesick days Chang was laying the foundation of what can be a start of a bright future; a future that is destined for him to shine, a future that only he can control, the future is the Canadian Football League (CFL).
For many this could be the beginning while others may be the end, for Chang it's the path that he's chosen and the path that he will lead. For all the sacrifices he's made; the blood, sweat and tears he's shed; the hardest thing of all was leaving Hawaii, where is heart lies deeply and unconditionally with a two-year old named Dillon.
Timmy Chang will be leaving for Hamilton Wednesday May 23, 2007. For more information contact Chad Ikei at 480.657.6937 or email chad@ikeiperformance.com [/b]
"The CFL has been known to produce quality players especially in the quarterback position: Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia and Kurt Warner to name a few all of which became successful NFL quarterbacks."
Kurt Warner? When and where was he in the CFL? And if he was...did he actually play or suit up?
"the hardest thing of all was leaving Hawaii, where is heart lies deeply and unconditionally with a two-year old named Dillon."
I hope this isn't going to be a problem. There seemed to be alot of talk about last year with Maas being homesick.
Nope, I doubt it will be a problem. He went to Europe last year where it was a non-factor. The vast majority of pro athletes leave family behind for several months to play their sports without the separation affecting their performances. Maas was an exception to let it affect him to the degree that it did.
Chang will be fine. In fact, given his commitment to making the team as shown by his intensive 3 month training stint with Chad Ikei, I think he’ll be more than fine.
I really don't know how some of these guys do it.
So what will he make this year?
$75,000 Canadian???
He has to fly in from Hawaii, pay for a place to stay for him, and his family back home.
Pay for a personal trainer.
Hope his wife has a good job!
Hey, $75,000 plus lots of free time in the off-season to sell cars or fitness memberships etc. where he lives, I'd do it, better than my far less than $75,000 with a graduate degree and having to work 12 months of the year (minus 4 weeks vacation).
--re--Wallace wrote:
Two things about this article.
"The CFL has been known to produce quality players especially in the quarterback position: Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia and Kurt Warner to name a few all of which became successful NFL quarterbacks."
Kurt Warner? When and where was he in the CFL? And if he was...did he actually play or suit up?
----SINCE when is the CFL a developemental QB league for the NFL??? What about ALL the great QB,s who stayed were and are CFL loyalists.
Relax, it is an article written by an American in America about an American kid.
Think of it this way. As a Canadian kid growing up in Canada and you wanted to be a professional hockey player, chances are your goal is to make the NHL. So you don’t get drafted into the NHL and you get offered to play in Europe. And so you relish the opportunity to play professional hockey in Europe with it’s different rink size and slightly different rules where a different type of player may succeed than in the NHL. But I am sure if they asked you early on in your professional career, your goal would still be to eventually play in the NHL.
This article doesn’t mean to slight the CFL, it is just putting it into a context that a Hawaii alum or an American football fan will understand when it names off some players they might recognize.
Though I did like the Kurt Warner mistake. Go Barnstormers!
The only QBs that come to Canada in the first place, are the ones turned-down by the NFL.
Over the years, any good QB that did not fit the mold of a NFL QB would come here.
Go back over the years.
Guess what the following guys have in common: Matt Dunigan, Jeff Garcia, Tom Wilkenson, Conredge Holloway, Tom Clements, Doug Flutie, Damon Allen, Deiter Brock, Dave Dickenson.
All GREAT Qbs, all had a burning desire to win, all undersized for a typical NFL QB.
Its not so much that we are a developmental league for the NFL, it is more that the CFL allows these guys to play the game they love.
If they succeed in the CFL, the NFL is watching.
Who wouldn't take the NFL bucks if offered?
For the College player coming to Canada, it is not the love of the CFL that brings them here.
It is the chance to make some money, get some experience, and the carrott is the NFL.
I think Warner asked several CFL teams for tryouts before he tried the AFL. Nobody in the CFL was interested so he played in the AFL and the rest is history.
I Emailed the Reporter. Here is his Response:
Tom,
You are absolutely correct, I forgot to edit Kurt out as he played Arena and I got it mixed up while writing the release. Thank you for the correction and I apologize for the misinformation.
Kurt Warner did play in Canada at least once. The Iowa Barnstormers (John Motton at fullback) played the New Jersey Red Dogs at the Saddledome in Calgary.
Former Stamps QB John Hufnagel was the coach of New Jersey at the time.
It was my first, and only, Arena Football game.
The best part was when some drunk fan ran on the field. One of the QB's on the Barnstormers bench (it might have been Warner) threw a ball across the field and drilled the guy in the top of the head, knocking his hat off. The guy was so stunned he hopped back over the boards into the stands and left his hat on the field.