I know, you’re probably getting cold just thinking about it! But, while the cold is temporary, the positive impact this will have on the lives of Special Olympics athletes will last a lifetime. Your donations support competition and training in 18 sports for nearly 10,000 athletes.

Thank you to everyone that donated or came out to support us. 

With the Kenosha Cougars entering our Sixth Season it has remained important to us to continue to be more involved in our community. For the past five years we have participated in the Polar Plunge helping to raise $7,800 for Special Olympics. While we will continue with this event, we wanted to do more to help the immediate needs of Kenosha and its surrounding areas. So this year the Cougars continued our Annual Toy Drive. This year’s toy drive again benefited the patrons of Women and Children’s Horizons Emergency Shelter.

The mission of Women and Children’s Horizons, Inc. is to provide support, education, training, and healing to victims of sexual and domestic violence/abuse. Each year the emergency shelter provides a safe haven for over 300 women and children, providing over 5,000 nights in shelter and 10,000 hot meals.

With your support, we were able to help provided a nice holiday for those who would otherwise not have had one. Wewould like to thank you for all of your support with this cause

!

The first team meeting, of the off season, arrived with a bang.  14 new recruits showed up ready for the season ahead, and 10 others that had prior work commitments that didn’t allow them to attend.   This included 4 players from other teams in the GFL and 6 others from semi-pro teams in different leagues.  Probably the most impressive part of the meeting was the spread of positions and prior experience. They showed huge promise for a repeat season with hopefully better results in the post season, with the Cougars just shy of a second championship and tying the second best record in the league’s history (9-1 regular season with a 2-1 post season – both losses to the 4 time Champions, Lake Shore Lynx).

Onto the schedule… The new arrangement of conferences will make for the most interesting year ever.  The Cougars will no longer be part of the American Conference.  The National Conference will consist of the most established teams to include:

Chicago Chaos -  Kenosha Cougars  -  Kenosha Sabers -  Lake County Cowboys -  Lake Shore Lynx -  Racine Gladiators  -  Racine Rampage -  South Milwaukee Rage  -  Wilmot Phoenix

Of this conference the Cougars have been deemed as one of the 3 tier one teams (top rated in the league in 2011) and will therefore play teams from only the National League.  This will leave two games to play a team twice at which will be the Lynx and the Cowboys.  Obviously a very competitive schedule and one that every player of all teams involved look forward to.

The tier 2 teams (teams with winning records) will play one team twice and one American Conference team once.

The tier 3 teams (bottom National teams in 2011) will play 8 games in the National Conference and 2 in the American Conference.

The 3 preseason games have been scheduled for 2012:

April 27^th – Cougars @ Jefferson Scorpions – Jefferson Scorpions will be hosting the Cougars in the first preseason of the year.  Time is set for an 8pm start.  With the Scorpions in a different conference this year, this will be the teams’ only chance at a matchup.  In 2011 this game became one of the hardest hitting games of the year and nothing is to show that it will be otherwise this time around.

May 4^th – South Milwaukee Rage @ Cougars – The Cougars will be hosting the South Milwaukee Rage.   This matchup was originally scheduled for last year but due to last second schedule changes, this rivalry was never able to be played.  The Cougars are 1-1 in regular season play against the Rage. We lost to the Rage in 2009 but regained ourselves in 2010 with a win in the regular season and in the playoffs.

May 11^th – Cougars @ Kenosha Sabers – The Cougars and Sabers will be playing their 6^th annual preseason game.  A year cannot begin without this matchup.  Where the Cougars and Sabers have not been typically rivals, per the sense of the word, this is a matchup that both teams look forward to every year and it shows.  This preseason game has always brought the best football out of both teams to start the year off on the right foot.

Now to address the long awaited “damage” to the Kenosha Cougars Roster.  21 of its original 29 will be returning, with 2 more that still may return for a grand total of 23 of the original 29.  Of the 8 players not returning, 3 have decided to move on to different teams and the rest moved on for retirements (still pending official retirements) or career related reasons.  This is actually below the average annual loss of players (10).  In the 2010-2011 offseason the Cougars lost 14 players alone, with none playing for a different team.  The dedication of the veteran players and new recognition in the Lake County/Kenosha County area, have helped this team recruit more talent than it’s ever had in the past.  2^nd year players, like Derek Gardner, Joe Hourieh, Deshawn Oliver, and Tony Storniolo have shown their level of talent and more importantly leadership that the Cougars need to win their second Championship.  The Cougars are confident that 2012 will show the same level for its new recruits.

The Cougars would like to thank its 8 players and wish them the best of luck in the futures endeavors!

John Cole – RB – Navy orders to Iraq

Adrian Abbott – RB – Shoulder Injury that may result in surgery. TBD (will be still involved in coaching, worst case scenario but will eventually be returning)

Garrett Dailey – WR – Marine Corps orders (after moving from Reserves to Active Duty) to New Orleans

Joe Clark – DB – Free Agency to the Wilmot Phoenix

Jason Holland – LB – Free Agency to the Lake County Cowboys

Corey Williams – DE – Free Agency to the Lake County Cowboys

Chris Hinojosa – S/DB – Pending retirement

Pedro Irizarry – DE – Retirement

The roster is in the process of being updated but won’t be finalize until after the 2 day tryouts on February 5^th and February 12^th.  Veteran’s practice will be held during the tryouts and will continue on February 26^th.  December and January will bring a few unofficial Cougar mini camps but the Cougars will be concentrating its efforts with its sole 3 time sponsor, Baker Street, on a Fund Raising event on January 21^st to include the band Cannibal Galaxy that have graciously volunteered their time for the cause (time TBD).  This event will raise funds for the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation. More details to come within the next couple of weeks.

Other events the Cougars are working on include the 2^nd annual Toy Drive.  Drop locations for the toy drive are at Scamps Gymnastics, Twisted Cuisine and Baker Street. This toy drive will benefit Women and Children’s Horizons, an organization to help victims of domestic and sexual abuse get back on their feet.  We continue to participate in the Special Olympics Wisconsin’s Annual Polar Plunge at Lake Andrea (February 11^th). Visit our Polar Plunge team page to join or donate now! We will also be hosting the 2^nd annual Bachelor Auction (April 28^th tentatively) with proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha.

Over $4000.00 and Christmas gifts were raised last year alone by the Cougars.  With the dedication and passion of its current and potential new players, that this next season promises, the Cougars aim to hit their goal for over $6000.00 and make more of a difference in its community than ever before.  Please standby for more regular updates as the season closes in!!!

This off season is like every other off season, opening its doors to new recruits. The 2012 preseason begins in April with the regular season continuing through the beginning of August. Games are played on Friday nights against teams from Milton to Chicago. The Cougars’ home field is Ameche Field (Tremper High School, Kenosha).
There are not many positions but we will look at every recruit closely. Tryouts will be held in February for the 6-8 current openings. For those recruits that are not able to make the cut, the Cougars have always worked with other teams, throughout the GFL, to give you more opportunities to still play football on other teams. The main positions available would include D-End, Linebacker, D-back, and Tailback. The other positions are always open to new recruits as well but these are the positions the Cougars are falling short in 2012.

The player fees will be $75, for 2012, plus jerseys and gear. The Cougars will help new recruits find
all needed gear at discounted prices through its partners. The gear will not be needed for tryouts but
soon after. The personalized jerseys will be ordered in March for the upcoming season.

If you are interested in playing in the 2012 season, please go to http://kenoshacougars.com/contact-us/player-sign-up/ and Cougars’ management will be in touch with you shortly.

update 12/4/2011  –  Next Team Meeting for the 2012 season is January 20, 2012 at Baker Street Restaurant and Pub at 7:00pm. If you have signed up or are just interested in information, please attend this meeting. Click here for map and directions.