Players Added: TBD
Players Subtracted: Chris Baumann, Phil Osborne, Mitchell Raisch, Stuart Sharpe, Josh Prickett, James Lowry, Epi Kalemani, Andrew O’Connor, Patrick Roberts
Coaching Changes: Marc Stcherbina as new coach coach with Raul de la Torre as assistant.
Team Leaders: Harry Bennett, Phil Lydeard
Pre-season Results: Wins over Ventura County, Pasadena, and LARC
After enduring a disappointing first season in the competition the Santa Monica Dolphins had hoped for a better year in year two. They did get that to a certain degree as they were much more competitive and pushed several of the top teams to the limit.
One of the players leading that charge was World Cup bound Chris Baumann. Unfortunately he’s moved on this year as have a number of contributors to the team from the past seasons. That is bound to take it’s toll but Santa Monica has added some new players in the offseason.
Harry Bennett and Phil Lydeard will once again be the leaders on the team. Bennett is one of the stars of the competition and if he can get going the Dolphins attack can be fast and expansive, just like how the Dolphins like the play. Still, it hasn’t been the ability to score that has been difficult for Santa Monica it’s on the defensive end, something Stcherbina is looking to improve this year.
“We are a small, fast team and like to play expansive so if we are to compete with opposing PRP teams it can’t be to match them at their own game. The only way we will compete is by improving our 1 v 1 tackling and maintaining a rapid style of play for 80 mins.”
The Dolphins open up their season this weekend at home against SFGG.
