Photo by Doug Koontz The Frederick Outlaws semi-pro football team held tryouts at Hill Street Park on Sunday morning.

They gathered at Hill Street Park on Sunday morning, hoping to score a spot on the Frederick Outlaws semi-pro football team.

"If anybody wants to try out ... we'll give them a fair shake, we'll assess them," said Derrick Gurley, the team's general manager.

The team, which has gone 44-4 and won three East Coast Football Association championships in the past three years, has a 60-man roster, with 53 active members and a seven-man practice squad, he said.

The players aren't paid. Instead, they pay dues to the team, and the team arranges sponsorships, he said.

Typically, the players are somewhere in their early 20s to mid -30s, though the Outlaws' oldest player is 47, Gurley said. Their experience level ranges from professional to glorified sandlot games.

If someone doesn't make the cut, the team will try and find another way they can help out, such as a spot on the coaching staff, or holding down markers during games, he said.

During a break in the tryouts, Ryan Lee, of Myersville , said his morning had been going pretty well.

The 25-year-old had played football in high school, and Sunday he was trying out for a defensive back position. He hoped his chances were good.

"I just want to get back in shape, see if I can run around with the young guys," Lee said.

Damien Wallace, 20, was trying out for quarterback.

He'd played quarterback at Frederick High School, and said that after being out of the game for a few years, he came out Sunday morning at the urging of a former coach.

"It was good," he said of his morning on the field. "I was just a little rusty."

J.J. Morrison of Brunswick had been with the Outlaws before but said he'd taken a few years off to improve his self-discipline and to spend some time in the weight room.

Early in the tryouts, he said he was feeling pretty good about his chances, but was waiting to see what would happen at the veterans' tryouts in October.

The morning had been relaxing, he said, though he had a few endurance problems.

"Oh yeah, I'll be back (next week,)" he said. "Feels good to get out there."

The team has two more weeks of tryouts, including the veterans' day on Oct. 5, so Gurley told everyone Sunday they didn't need to worry about cuts yet.

This year, the team is trying to increase its presence in Frederick , finding local sponsors and doing charity events, he said. To help back that up, the team wants people with positive attitudes, who can be good role models -- no one with a foul mouth.

The team doesn't have a real home field, and last year, it played in Gaithersburg and Germantown.

"Everywhere but Frederick County," Gurley said. "We were basically the Maryland Outlaws."

That's going to change this year, he told everyone at the end of the day's tryouts.

"We're not going to be the Maryland Outlaws," Gurley said, "we're the Frederick Outlaws."