SWFL Sharks searching for title at Florida Grid League Playoffs

In grid, it all comes down to speed and strength.

“I’ve played baseball, I’ve played volleyball in school high school all that stuff, Southwest Florida Sharks Strength Specialist Francisco Gomez said. “But grid is by far the most exciting sport. It’s so fast paced. So many parts moving at the same time.”

“It’s a combination of weightlifting, track and field, gymnastics,” SWFL Sharks Head Coach Nick Habich. “All combine into this massive team sport with guys and girls on the same side.”

Strength is Francisco Gomez’s specaility on the Cape Coral-based Southwest Florida Sharks. Think about specialities like positions on a football team.

“I can squat really fast,” Gomez explained. “So pretty much anything that is squatting, over head squatting, dumbbell squatting front squats anything squats usually I’m the one doing it.”

Kara Palumbo is a bodyweight specialist for the Sharks.

“Pretty much anything that doesn’t require a kettle bell or a weight,” Palumbo said. “We’re just doing our body mechanics to do the movements.”

There’s also players on the 18 person roster that are utility players who can do both.

During meets, teams go through eleven events in a race. The goal is pulling off herculean feats as fast as possible. To win, it takes more than brawn.

“Once somebody is subbed out, they can’t come back in,” SWFL Sharks Utility Player Valerie Gunning explained. “So you can’t necessarily just use your best players as you see fit. There’s a lot of strategy to maneuvering the roster to have your best advantage.”

The Sharks head up to Orlando this weekend for the Florida Grid League Playoffs. They hope to finally come home as champions.

“That’s what we work for,” Palumbo said. “We work for this for how ever many years Nick had the team together. You know we never won a championship yet.”

“Even though this is like a hobby to us, we take it very seriously. So we want to win,” Gomez said.