A little of this. A little of that.

Letting a fan wear your championship ring is one way
for Tormenta to create memories and experiences.

It was a busy Thursday around Tormenta. Ian Cameron held his weekly press conference and previewed the upcoming preseason games against Jacksonville University and Charleston Battery before we get to games that count.

Last evening at the Russell Union Theater on the campus of Georgia Southern University, Tormenta held their preseason season ticket holder event (a better writer would find a way to not say "preseason season ticket holder" but alas. On the plus side, I at least recognize it's an issue even if I didn't take steps to fix it. That's the first step, right?) Co-Owner and President Darin Van Tassell spoke along with Cameron and a few of the players. The big news out of this event was they showed off the new uniforms for the 2024 season. However, no photos or videos were allowed so you'll have to trust me when I say they're going be different from years past. I won't begin to try to describe them from memory. It'll be worth the wait to see them when they're unveiled. Unfortunately I can't tell you when that will be as they didn't give a time frame for that when I asked.

The other news (though not really) that came out is that the new USL1 Cup that is being implemented this year has an official name. "It has a new name, but I can't break that to any of you. I have to let the league break that to you," Van Tassell told the crowd, much to my disappointment.

So how do we want to do this? I'm usually not a fan of bullet points because while it's certain faster to skim through and easier to convey a lot of information, it's also kinda lazy on my part. (Granted, I just intentionally wrote "kinda" instead of "kind of" so I'm clearly not opposed to laziness.) On the other hand, this is a labor of love and fun and I am a little busy with the day job and kids' activities this week. How about this, we'll start with a bullet list and I may expand on some things as I go. Cool? Cool.

Let's start with the season ticket holder event last night first:

• Van Tassell said the business of sports is not about sports. It's about creating memories and experiences and they way they do that is by winning championships. "When we fall short of those things that get in the way of memories and experiences, those are our areas of growth."

• He spoke of the unique situation the United States is in with the next few years in co-hosting the World Cup and other major tournaments (as well as the 2028 Olympics) and expects a soccer explosion to come as more and more people are exposed to those events.

• Fans can expect to see more construction on the stadium this year and the goal is to have it complete by 2025. The parking lot should be finished soon. He said Tormenta fans were the most patient fans in America as they waited for the completion of the stadium.

• Ian Cameron spoke about how he wants the team to reflect the aspirational nature of the community. He mentioned the space where the event was held being a college which is, by nature, aspirational. 

• He also said they worked to bring guys onto the team that kids can relate to and look up to.

• Cameron said they hope to be the highest scoring team in the league and play a "super aggressive" style of play.

• "It's going to be really cool for you in five or 10 years time to look back at some of these young men and say 'you know what, I watched them at the formative years in their career," when we see some of them in a few years playing in the MLS or other top leagues.

• From the Question and Answer session, Jake Dengler, Conor Doyle and Jackson Khoury all said the road games they like best are the ones with a great atmosphere and fans in the stands, including Madison and Omaha. Later on Cameron said he'd like to see Statesboro create that kind of atmosphere. Even if the community doesn't have the same number of people, it's not about the size of the crowd, but it's about cohesiveness of the fans creating an environment that players what to play in. "Unity of that kind can echo further than the numbers." he said. 

• One question I enjoyed was asking how players will adjust to the heat in South Georgia in July and August. Cameron joked that you bring players in during the winter when it's nice here let them adjust to the heat as it gets hot. But he said if he can adjust coming from Scotland, he's sure the players will adjust to the heat.

• Cameron's favorite color is green and his daughter's favorite color is blue.

Earlier in the day, Cameron held his weekly press conference as the team prepares for Jacksonville University on Saturday. As this is already getting a little long, here are some highlights of that.

• He's pleased with the effort and intensity of the squad so far. No red flags or any concerns about the effort level of the players.

• "If we can manage to combine the heart and the energy with better structure, then we'll be in a good place."

• Right now he said players are still trying to implement what they learn in training into the game so he can see the mental effort that is going in to that. As the season progresses, he hopes the players spend less time thinking about what to do and more time being creative within the system as the come to better understand what that looks like. 

• Cameron is anticipating having more of the possession against Jacksonville than last weekend's games in Huntsville and wants to see the relationships and fluidness on the field grow. 

• The following game against Charleston he's expecting to have less possession and will be able to work on counterattacking and defending. 

• The defensive unit is mostly healthy at this point and, from a cohesion perspective, are probably the furthest along. Having said that, Cameron said scoring and offense is always behind as scoring is the hardest thing to do.

• Speaking of injuries, there have been no major injuries in preseason and as of now, everyone is on track to be healthy for the opening game of the year. 

Kickoff for Saturday is 2 p.m. at Tormenta Stadium. I'll have some sort of recap up here this weekend, but not sure when it'll get posted. We took my wife's car to the shop yesterday and they said it would cost $11,000 to replace the engine so we're car shopping immediately after the game.