Mentors in this league come in many forms, however my biggest mentors in the league were the Yellowknife GM’s when I was drafted in S22, fly and shady. Fly would go on to be my GM partner through most of my tenure as Yellowknife GM and taught me most of what I knew how to do as a GM. I owe any of my success I had during my time as a GM to him leading the way but Shady was a mentor in many ways. He was the sim guru for YKW when I joined, along with the legendary TC, and really helped show me the ropes with regards to that aspect of GMing. He was also one of the greatest DE’s in history and really gave my player an inspiration to look up to for his career. Sadly Money has wasted his career and will go down in no history books, but it was a nice idea.
Being a West Coast kid I grew up watching West Coast players. And although I'm from Oregon there was a guy I watched in California that always impressed me. That player was Jack Banks from Cal Berkeley who then went on to play in the ISFL for the New York Silverbacks. Although we play different positions it was Banks' drive and determination that really resonated with me. He went out there and gave it his all every single play. He ended up with 100 career sacks and an Ultimus title. A hell of a ride. Although I am unable to take the field at the same time as him I am very fortunate to be drafted by the same team that he found success with. My goal is to be as much of a dominant and disruptive force on defense as Banks was. And thankfully for me, Banks has taken me under his wing and has been showing me just what it means to be a pro. I can't wait to start playing at the next level, and I couldn't pick a better mentor to help me along the way.
Kaguya Shinomiya is a person who likes to take advice from those who she will be taking over from. And as such, the biggest mentor through the recent career of Kaguya has been none other than legendary Liberty QB Ryan Negs. Ryan has been at the top of his game for a long time (being the leading passer in the ISFL so far this season for example), and as such he is the perfect person to learn from when it comes to adapting to the passing game at the ISFL level. Of course, that is long term advice, given that it may be a while until Kaguya makes that jump to the next level; because of that, there are 2 other players at the DSFL level that are seen as mentors to Kaguya’s play. The first is Dustin Parmalee, the current Yellowknife QB who used to be the captain of the Royals. Parm went through many stretches of tough QB outings before finding his feet, so learning from his resilience is undoubtably a good resource for Kaguya to learn from. And the other mentor at the DSFL level is Malcolm Savage; Malcolm was the QB of the team Kaguya shadowed during her learning season in the DSFL - the Norfolk Seawolves - and played a very similar style to Kaguya at that level. The hope is that - through the lessons learned from all these players - Kaguya will become a quarterback unfazed by issues at each level, and play well enough to win as many trophies as possible at all levels of the sport.
Ernest Lover’s had has many great mentors in his long career, both on and off the field. But his personal philosophy of hard work and (self-) forgiveness was shaped most strongly in his early years as a Ripley Viking in West Virginia. There it was his high-school football coach, Bryce Cares. Coach Cares helped Lover deal with his changing body and nutritional challenges. Helping Lover overcome challenges in his football game also helped him overcome challenges at home. Off the field, Lover’s family was struggling to put food on the table and he often needed to visit the local soup kitchen while his mom was working a second shift. This is where he met his high-school sweetheart, now wife, who would volunteer at the soup kitchen with her parents. They never once looked down on Lover or his family for approaching the charity; and he never forgot the kindness that they and the other volunteers showed. He was determined to make the most of it and to find his way to give back in his life. He is proud that his football career has allowed him to have the resources and platform to build on the legacy of his mentors and to pay it forward.