Are we slow to reel in these SharX? Gill-ty as charged

The Norfolk SharX, the fledgling professional indoor soccer team that plays at Scope, have been more prey than predator.

The SharX have had trouble making a big splash.

When the season began, they were a fish out of water.

The team floundered.

But lately, the SharX have been doing better - swimmingly, you might say - winning two in a row.

While nobody will soon need a bigger boat - or arena - to handle these SharX, their growing pains are finally producing results on the artificial pitches of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

"You get fed up with losing," said Jon Hall, coaching his first year of indoor soccer with a roster made up primarily of first-year indoor players.

The hybrid indoor game is far different from the outdoor variety, something the SharX learned the hard way. As it adjusted to the sport's eccentricities - all those passes and shots bouncing off the hockey dasher boards - the team lost its first nine games, many by embarrassing scores.

That's no way to reel in fans.

"We didn't have the same experience as most of the other teams," Hall said. "We still don't."

It has helped that goalkeeper Jamie Lieberman, who was all at sea in several games, has gained his footing well enough to be named the most recent Player of the Week in the MISL.

Tonight, the SharX drop in on the first-place Baltimore Blast, whom Norfolk upset at Scope last week. Then the team is home against the Missouri Comets on Saturday night.

The names and reputations of SharX opponents don't resonate with potential customers, and that's mainly OK with team president Marcie Laumann, who while hoping to attract hard-core soccer fans and groups of youth players says that her "target market is anybody who likes fast, fun, exciting sports."

Under Hall, the team gradually is rising, though attendance isn't. But a reported average home turnout of only 1,200 isn't surprising. Every first-year business must face its fears. And indoor soccer is a niche sport that couldn't be much lower on glamor or TV exposure.

When's the last time anybody saw an indoor soccer highlight on ESPN? Don't everybody raise their hands at once.

Acknowledging the team's slow start on the field and at the gate, Laumann on Thursday said, "We're digging out one inch at a time."

If she's worried, it doesn't show. Laumann's a survivor who's been operating the Piranhas women's and men's outdoor teams for nearly two decades.

"I don't quit on anything," she said. "It's always been a three-year plan to get our attendance figures up to where they should be."

Laumann recently shook up her front office, bringing in Jim Gooley from New Jersey, where he built a reputation for organizing and promoting soccer teams, to be her general manager.

Now the team hopes to change perceptions by positioning itself for a strong finish.

"If you go on a winning streak and win at home," Laumann said, "that's what people will remember. We've been busting our butts all week to promote Saturday's game."

Except for the rare hot spot, like Baltimore, which has fielded an indoor team for 30 years, attendance around the MISL is spotty at best.

"But the people who come are excited about the game," Laumann said of the local product. "The word will spread."

Maybe so, if very slowly.

"I can only worry about what I can control," Hall said. "If we're going to play a game in front of one man and his dog, we're still going to approach the game the same way."

Bob Molinaro, 757-446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com, Twitter@BobMolinaro