For our very first episode in English, we're honored to welcome Les Maruo, linebacker for the Edmonton Elks (CFL) and Panasonic Impulse (X-League), as our guest.
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Intro: 00:00:00
Lesā experience playing in the 2025 Rice Bowl: 00:03:47
The difference between club teams and company teams in Japanese pro football: 00:09:12
Cheerleaders for Panasonic and Futjitsu are also company employees during the day time: 00:12:00
Why Panasonic has a very strict social media policy: 00:13:15
The Panasonic football facilities: 00:16:19
How Les discovered American football: 00:17:50
Moving from Shizuoka, Japan to Kansas, USA: 00:20:29
The difference between youth baseball in the US vs. in Japan: 00:23:45
The reality of a 3 sport athlete in High School: 00:24:52
Playing in both the X League and the CFL in the same year: 00:26:44
The importance of lifting heavy in-season: 00:30:22
How his kinesiology degree helps him in his football career: 00:32:42
How he met his Olympian girlfriend: 00:36:37
How Leo ended up dating a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader: 00:42:09
Lesā offseason preparation: 00:45:22
Implementing track athlete style workouts to his football preparation: 00:46:52
When did he become good at football: 00:48:59
Why he chose to pursue College Football rather than College Baseball: 00:50:35
His JUCO recruiting process: 00:52:43
Why he chose Hutchinson Community College: 00:54:27
Why he chose UTSA (NCAA Group of 5) after his JUCO career: 00:57:07
Dealing with compartment syndrome during his first NCAA season: 00:59:24
How he never lost faith that heād be able to play football again: 01:02:17
His junior and senior years at UTSA: 01:04:29
His Pro Day and pro football tryouts: 01:07:22
His transition to life without football: 01:07:50
How he got his shot at playing pro football in Japan: 01:12:20
Transitioning back to his home country after so many years: 01:15:21
Summary of the episodeās exclusive section reserved for our Patreoners: 01:19:20
How Les became a CFL global player: 01:20:39
His signature and championship with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 01:29:50
His interest in eventually playing in Europe: 01:30:37
The main difference between the X League and the ELF: 01:32:20
What did we think of the talent level of Japanese American football: 01:34:48
Which pro football league is truly the 3rd best level in the world between the X League, the ELF, and the LFA: 01:37:06
Outro: 01:42:17
In this episode of Sans Stress, we share our views on the world as young athletes, with zero filter, zero pressure. Just real talk.#sansstress #podcast
