Minor Leaguers With Major Aspirations

CHATSWORTH — Leave it to a couple of punters to kick some life into Southern California’s moribund football scene.

The Rams have moved to St. Louis.

The Raiders have returned to Oakland.

But Scott Aronson and Darren McMahon hope the Simi Valley Swarm, a minor league team preparing for its inaugural season, can in some small way help fill the void created by the departure of the Southland’s professional teams.

“The NFL we are not,” Aronson said. “But we’re the next best thing.”

On this evening, 40 or so Swarm players are practicing at Chatsworth High. Players are not paid but have come to rekindle competitive fires and foster hopes of reaching the promised land of a professional camp.

It’s a wonder John Skidmore can keep his eyes open, let alone practice football in the evening. He has been up since 3 a.m.

Skidmore, 23, rose that early to allow for the drive from his Oxnard home to his job in Santa Ana, where the union bricklayer is helping to build a junior high school. Work starts at 5:30.

Meet quite possibly the hardest-working man in football.

On practice days, Skidmore stops off at Chatsworth High to work out with the Swarm before continuing home. He has been doing this for a month, but no one is sure how.

“There’s just something about smelling the grass and having [players] around you,” he said. “It gives you a high. It keeps you going for a couple of hours.”

What keeps Skidmore going is the chance to play at the “next level.” Although this is the fourth consecutive year the defensive back has played for a minor league team, he clings to the dream of making a pro roster.

“I’ve got to work, but at the same time I want to still play ball,” he said. “This is the only way I can do both. . . . I’m still young enough. You just have to keep training and working hard.”

Skidmore played football at Oxnard High but never took his game to the college level. He played two seasons for the minor league Ventura County Cardinals before switching to the Santa Clarita-based California Dolphins last season. When the Dolphins moved to Lake Elsinore, Skidmore found the Swarm.

Asked how the Swarm differs from his previous teams, he said, “Well, there’s people at practice. There’s people on the sideline waiting to get in, too. These other teams I played with, you’re going both ways with about three or four people on the sideline. If you get hurt, that’s it. We got a whole first- and second- and possibly third-string. And all of them have talent.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this season, hopefully beating up on some people.”

Skidmore, though, won’t be feeling as beat up for future Swarm practices. The company he is working for has put him up in a hotel in Santa Ana. Now he can sleep in until 5.

Aronson, 27, a former punter for Pierce College, shares ownership of the Swarm with his wife, Karlisa, and McMahon, a former punter at Cal State Northridge and Chatsworth and Granada Hills high schools.

A veteran of several minor-league teams, Aronson says he learned from the mistakes made by former employers and hopes by providing a more organized setting, he can make it easier for aspiring players to attract the interest of professional leagues.

The Swarm will play six home games at Simi Valley High, starting Aug. 23 against the Fresno Bandits, defending Minor League Super Bowl champions.

“Some of these guys have been on NFL fields,” said Aronson, who was in the Rams’ camp in 1994. “A lot of them have the potential to be on [Canadian Football League] fields and in the World League and arena football. I’m real excited about the prospect of what’s going to happen.”

McMahon, 26, says most of the players were recruited through college contacts.

“There are a lot of diamonds in the rough out there,” McMahon said. “When you find one guy, he has to know someone else. The next thing you know, you’ve got a team.”