When he came home from Rockford, Ill., last spring with an elbow injury, Tom Stark was discouraged but not out of hope.

His first taste of professional football had him wanting more. The West Salem High School graduate just needed another chance.

He had a hunch that La Crosse might get another chance to host an indoor football program, but he wasn’t counting on it.

“I was really hoping and wishing,” Stark said. “I’ll be learning the game from some great people, and you can’t beat staying in the area.”

Stark said he’ll play running back and some linebacker if he makes the roster of the La Crosse Spartans, who are part of the 24-team Indoor Football League.

Stark already knows he’s one of 45 players who will be invited to training camp to compete for spots on a roster that will be comprised of 30 players.

Twenty-one of them will suit up for each game with four others on an inactive list and five members assigned to a practice squad.

“No one is guaranteed anything,” said Stark, who is one of six players signed to a camp contract. “They are bringing in talent from everywhere.”

That means Stark, who rushed for 3,179 yards at West Salem before playing at UW-La Crosse, will compete with players discovered at tryouts all over the Midwest.

“They want to have a championship team,” Stark said of the Spartans, who are coached by former Green Bay Packers lineman Gilbert Brown. “They want this to be a stepping stone to bigger things.”

That’s how Stark views it, too. He’d love to be able to turn this chance into another one with the Canadian Football League, United Football League or National Football League at some point.

“They told us at tryouts that we shouldn’t be there unless we thought we could play at a higher level,” Stark said. “How we play on the field will determine whether we get that opportunity or not.”

The IFL will release its schedule Nov. 20. Games begin in March.