World Footy News

Minnesota Freeze's Ryan Marx featured this week in a story on the Bellevue Leader's site. Marx along with three of his Freeze teammates were named in the USAFL's Revolution squad to compete at this years International Cup in Melbourne. Marx descibes himself in the article as "I'm tall, but I'm also pretty skinny, so I can move fairly quick," and at 6 feet 5 inches will be hard to match up on for his international opponents. An edited extract of the article features below - the full article can be seen here.

Marx excels at Aussie game
By: Eric Taylor, Leader sports editor
06/11/2008
When most guys hit their 30s, they settle into activities like slow-pitch softball, bowling and golf. Ryan Marx prefers something a bit more taxing. Marx spends his summers playing Australian Rules Football for the Minnesota Freeze club team near his home in St. Paul, Minn.

"I'm one of the older guys on the team," said Marx, a 1996 Bellevue East graduate. "The last thing I thought I'd be doing when I hit 30 would be playing a full-contact sport.” Marx began playing four years ago and has been somewhat of a fast-riser. So much so that he'll be competing for the United States Revolution squad that will compete in the International Cup later this summer in Australia.

"Shortly after I moved to Minnesota, I started working with a guy from Australia," Marx said. "He pushed me into giving the game a try and I thought it was an exciting sport. "I've had several guys on my team from Australia kid me that if I had started playing the game when I was young, I could have made the Australian national team." Marx has an athletic background having played both soccer and basketball in high school and his 6-5 frame certainly helps him on the field. "I'm tall, but I'm also pretty skinny, so I can move fairly quick," he said. "It's an advantage being taller, but it also works against you because you'll have guys climbing up you trying to get to the ball."

"It's pretty similar to little kids playing tackle football," he said. "There's a lot of hitting and tackling, but it's not as brutal as you might think." One might not have been able to convince Marx of that a couple of years ago when he suffered a cut to his head, but was able to play the rest of the game."I wore something like a helmet during the game and it basically wore a lot of the skin off," he said. "I had to be at work the next day and I show up there with this wrap over this gash in my head."

Marx plays one game a week with his club team and says he could play up to four games in one weekend during the International Cup. "Who knows how long I'll continuing playing, so this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said. "It will be my first trip to Australia, so I'm really looking forward to it."