Crewsaders Origin

The Crusaders team started in 2019 with members Chong, Timmy, and Tyler. They had previously played on teams like RUN, Immortals, Doomsday, and New Crew. They faced challenges and disbanded multiple times before forming the Crusaders. They joined forces with Forbidden Soldiers and faced criticism from other teams. They decided to regroup and focus on improving as a team. In 2020, COVID-19 prevented them from playing together. In 2021, they officially became the Crusaders. Despite facing setbacks and negativity, they remain determined to grow and succeed. The narrator is a member of the team and shares their journey through a podcast. Welcome to Crusaders Multi-Football, I'm your host Tony and today we'll be going through the origins of the Crusaders team and how everything started. And also thank you to our sponsors at Bubble Bay, Little Tokyo, Asian Taste, Rick the Barber and Falcoma. And to kind of get this started, I gave a question or a Q&A question to one of the leaders and captain of the team named Chong Shiong. And it took him a while to send me back the answer, so that's okay, everyone has their own time, their own schedule, doing what they have to do in their lives. And it took me a while to make an episode about it, so I asked him about 1 to 11 questions and I believe I'm going to go through each question in each episode, so that I don't put too much into one episode and that'd be too much to listen to. So if it's a good 10 to 15 minutes long, I'll take that, but if it's 30 minutes long, like a TV show, ESPN, or Skip Shannon, First Take, or First Thing, or whatever it's called, I want to take my time with these questions and let's get to it. So the first question I asked Chong is pretty much where and how did Crusaders started. And to his answer, what he said to me, they were organized in 2019, and the people that was pretty much in the team right now is him, Chong, Timmy, which is Tomei, and Tyler. For Tomei, he's been playing in the Hmong Flatfootball community for a long, long time. He used to play in a team called RUN, which is RUN. I have some in-laws and some cousins who played with RUN back in the day when they were representing Green Bay. And according to Chong, both teams will follow a talent that will always come out short due to the playoffs, and it happens all the time, and even to us. Back in the time, Chong was only in his freshman year in high school. And his brother would always ask him, hey, come play. And Chong would say, no, I think tackle football is more funner, et cetera, because it's tackle. But during practice one day, Chong came over and he met this guy, this Asian guy who was playing as a center or lineman. And they were kind of going at each other, and Chong busted a spin move on him, and he said, oh, they didn't like it, let's write it back. But when they did, the guy put him on his ass. I know this is PG-13, but that's okay. And towards the end of practice, the guy asked Chong for his name. And then Chong asked him for his name, and it turns out to be Tyler. And during the year of 2016, both of them, or three of them, Timmy, Chong, and Tyler were playing in a team called Immortals. And unfortunately, they disbanded just three tournaments later. Tyler has taken some of the guys from Immortals to go play with Forbidden Soldiers, while Chong and Tomei were to go play with a team called Doomsday. And Chong and Tomei played with them in about a year, in 2017 to 2018. Although Doomsday was a solid team with potential, but it lacked experience and patience for scoring players, which led to its downfall. And unfortunately, Doomsday would only last for one small tournament in 2018, before the team was picked up by another coach, renaming it New Crew. And some of the players were a majority from Appleton and also from Green Bay. And the New Crew would finish playing in 2018, in the summer, in Oshkosh, Wausau, and also finishing in Rice Bowl. And after the 2018 season, the head coach decided to call it quits due to the team or the players not being committed enough. So in Chong's mind, he's played with three teams that pretty much disbanded in those three years. And as Appleton is around the corner, Chong and Tomei decided to get a bunch of kids from playing street football, and decided to go play in Appleton. The first team they went up against was Tier 1, and they did great against Tier 1, but ultimately in the playoffs, they came out short, and that's okay. And during that time, Chong and Tomei kind of regrouped themselves, saying, hey, we got this far. We have the potential to become a great team, or a good team, and all we need is a coach to kind of help us, guide us through. And not just that, they also had the Sheborgan Tournament in Oshkosh around the corner. So Chong and Tomei decided to rest their guys just for that week, because during the summer time, everyone's always busy doing their own thing, like camping, etc. And Tyler came back and texted them, saying, hey, you want to go play in Sheborgan with Team Forbidden Soldiers? And of course, they said yes, and they went to go play. It's crazy as it seemed in 2019, and that's the day when I met these guys. And it's kind of crazy how my life intertwined with theirs, because Derek Lee, one of the guys that play on defense, is a cousin with Austin, I believe so. He asked me to come play, because he knows that I've been training myself, like doing drills at a random park in Madison. And he knows I'm ready to go in to play. And when I came in, they asked me, hey, which position do you play? And I'm like, well, during that time, I was throwing the ball a lot, so I love watching Aaron Rodgers play and quarterback play, so I love being quarterback and calling the plays. And they already had a quarterback, which is an AP, amazing guy, love that man. And during that time, they put me in a corner, and I was doing good the first game. And then the second game, I blew coverage to Tier 1, and that's when I got benched by Jamar, so it kind of sucks. And also, that's when I met Elijah for the first time, but he never knew who I was, and I never knew who he was. But now I know him, which is crazy now, and he's an amazing guy too, for sure. But let's get back to the story. In Day 2, Forbidden Soldiers got in third place, which is great, great for them. But they fell short due to losing to another team, I forgot, but it's been a while, but third place, not bad. So after the tournament, Chong, and Tomei, and Tyler decided that they would join forces again to play again, but unfortunately, things overworked the way that they wanted to. So they went to one and two tournaments about two weeks after Walsall, him, and Timmy, and Tyler went on a barbecue thing and said, hey, maybe we should start talking about shirts and logos and etc. And that was the night when they decided to put a new crew name away, and would be called as Crusaders. After that, with Chong, and Tomei, and Tyler still playing with Forbidden Soldiers, they were playing a nine-player team. So they were running Iron Man all day, and it was a killer, I bet, with no subs. And it's crazy, they actually did pretty great. And day two, they won the first game, which put them straight into the championship game. But with the fate of Legacy, they came out short. And after the tournament, they just talked about how maybe we should keep playing again together as a team. They're taking third place, they should work together, they're taking second place with only nine players at this point. So that's when they started noticing, like, hey, what if we just have consistent players and have guys that can help us, that has the experience, and that's the thing that they were lacking. But in 2020, that's when COVID hit, and they were stuck in hiding again. And unfortunately, during that year, they can't do anything together, and that's what sucks about having COVID-19 here. And during that year, and that's when they met Coach Aaron Vang in person. So in 2021, they decided to make it official, forbidden soldiers and crew would join under one banner, and now it will be officially called Crusaders. Now you may think that, you know, the sunshines and rainbows are right, wrong. During the tournaments, they were losing games, and other teams and other veteran players were saying how negative the team were, and that if they want to win or they want to be better, they need to grow up, like, that's the only way to do so. And for the elevator tournament, they decided not to play because of the negativity that the other guys were bringing to the team. And they decided to, let's recap, you know, let's get back into the lab and grow together as a team, be humble, etc. Now here comes 2020, coming back, be more humble, more hungry, more energized. Now here comes Memorial Day, they fell short. Now coming in J4, they had something to prove, sharing 3rd place with Blue Dragons, that was amazing. And now you're asking where am I man, I was in J4, I was literally there, but I was there with a senior friend of mine back in high school. But when I found out that they split 3rd place with Blue Dragons, I was like wow, this team is actually pretty good. And the next week, I went to go play at their practice, and that's when I met Coach Aaron for the first time. And I re-met Chong in the parking lot, and I told him, hey, I know you, but I just don't remember your name, but I know your face. And now it brings us to the present day, am I still with the team? Of course I am! I'm making a podcast about them, and I'm still practicing with them for sure. Just last week, at the Eau Claire tournament, I didn't go due to my injury to my left wrist. I kind of hyperextended it while doing squats, and it kind of went back. But now it's healing better, it's getting faster healed up now. So now for practice, or for the next tournament in J4, I'll be ready and be hungrier to get back with my guys. I love this team, I love my brothers. And they show me that everyone here is being loved, it's a brotherhood thing. And this is what I love about this team, and this is what I enjoy about this team. And I'm sorry Chong, and this took a long time to make, but I took my time out of my day to make this episode just for you, to explain how to other people out there who want to join us, this is how we started. So thank you! Tune in to Team Christian's podcast, I'm your host, Tony. Until next time guys, I'll see you in the next one. And also one more time, thanks to our sponsors, Global Bay, Little Tokyo, Asian Taste, Bristol Barber, and Solid Koma.