Q & A with Andrew Gambrill, Great Britain Women Flag Football Head Coach

So what does it take to get to the top of your field and be named a Great Britain Head Coach? And once there how far can you push yourself and your ambitions? Andrew Gambrill will be known by many in the BAFA and Britball community, and we were fortunate enough to have him answer a few of our questions as to how and why he got into the game.

 

UKFD - When did you first start following the game?

AG - I was part of the Channel 4/Nicky Horne generation. Although I also remember watching the Super Bowl highlights on ITV’s World of Sport with my brother.

UKFD - When did you realise there was football activity in Britain?

AG - That’s such a long time ago! I honestly, can’t remember. I know a friend and I trained for about 18 months with the Leamington Spartans. They had one helmet. The Head Coach, poor chap, qualified for the position because he had an American accent.

UKFD - What made you get involved in the UK game?

AG - Such a hard question, I just loved the sport from the first time I saw it.

UKFD - At what point did you realise you could make a difference in the game and how it's structured?

AG - Fairly early on, in my time at Leicester Eagles, I had the coaching bug. There was always a group of lads who came to watch the seniors train and so the idea of setting up a youth team came from that.

As for getting involved at a National level, I realised that I knew the answers to rookie’s questions, but I would also hear veterans complaining about the BAFA, but equally those same veterans wouldn’t do anything to rectify things. I had a lot of experience and ideas and more importantly the motivation to help out.  I soon realised there wasn’t a BAFA ivory tower and it was just guys like me who saw beyond their own team and wanted to see the British game grow. We’re all BAFA.

UKFD - What is your current role in BAFA and how did you work up to that?

AG - I’m the Head Coach of the Great Britain Women’s Flag Football team, and yeah, it still feels great to say that. As well as the GB team I have a wider developmental role organising and participating in the Topaz development days and of course The Opal Series. I’m also looking to support BAFCA a little more; in fact I’m giving a talk at the convention on the Friday.

UKFD - What is your biggest BAFA achievement to date?

AG - In 2003 my Leicester Eagles cadets, juniors and youth team all won their respective national titles, but I think winning the European Junior Flag Football Championship as OC for GB tops that, also in 2003.

UKFD - If you could change two things within BAFA what would they be?

AG - BAFA is such a big beast now, I’m sure there is room for improvement in some areas. However, in my field I see the Women’s game growing and flag football in general bigger than ever, so whilst I recognise a lot of people have worked really hard to get us where we are and we need to continue with that, I’m pretty happy with the ways things are going.

UKFD - What is on the immediate horizon for you?

AG - I’m off to Chorley on Saturday for a Topaz development day. That will include a morning coaching session focusing on catching the football, snapping the football in Shotgun formation and blitzing. In the afternoon there will be a three team tournament between Chorley Bucs, Northants Titans and The Black Widows. The Black Widows are made up of players from all over the country who have attended the day, but their respective team hasn’t.

On June 27th we have the final selection day for the GB women’s flag team. We have to select 15 players from the 32 that have been invited back to this, the second round in the selection process. And then the small matter of the European Flag Football Championships in Madrid this September.

UKFD - What are your long term goals for BAFA?

AG - I want GB women to be the dominant force in European flag football and the Opal Series to be the biggest flag football league in Europe. Oh, and world peace.

 

We want to thank Andrew for taking time out of his busy schedule, and wish him every success in the future.

2105 BAFA Season update

The Flag season is well under way and our good friends at pullingtheflag.com have kindly agreed to let us share the latest results and standings from their pages.

They are the best resource for all things Flag football with constant updates and news of events.

The latest scores – with remaining fixtures can be found here -

http://pullingtheflag.co.uk/fixturesresults

with the current standings here -

http://pullingtheflag.co.uk/2015-standings

We will bring you updates throughout the season.

Birth of a Team Part 1. (An idea becomes a plan.)

Article by James Brewerton

 

So why would you want to read about a team that has not even had a meet up yet?, well if this game we all love is to grow in the UK many more people will find themselves at the same point I am at and if they can read my trials and tribulations it may help them avoid any problems I may encounter.

Why a flag team? If the pinnacle of our sport in the full contact adult game at the Britbowl then its roots and foundation has to become the young school kid pulling on his/her flag belt ready to take on the team from the next school. It is my opinion that to create a new age in British American Football we need to get schools playing flag.

First things first while Manchester and Wigan have a few flag teams Cheshire and North Staffordshire has none, so first we need a team. My first port of call was my local clubs committee to find out if they have any plans in place for a flag team. The Crewe Railroaders have plans for flag but not for a few years yet so I asked for their blessing to start an independent team. Why would I not want to create a Railroaders flag team, the answer is simple in Cheshire and North Staffordshire we have 3 adult contact teams Chester Romans, Crewe Railroaders and Staffordshire Surge what I have planned is to benefit the whole game not just one club if through flag I can interest young players who want to progress up to full contact then they will have plenty of choice.

 

So here I sit a long term goal of getting flag football into local schools and a short term goal of an active adult flag team to compete in the league in 2016. In this day and age social media can be the making of any team/club so for me I wanted to create a brand/image first. I put out feelers and had enough positive response from regular players that I could produce a team, so encouraged I started my planning. A name is a big part of a club and one thing I love about my local area is the huge amount of history connected with the English Civil War, I did not think Roundheads was a good name so Cavaliers it had to be, so we will not be tied to one town/city I went with Cheshire Cavaliers.

I contacted a design studio about creating a logo and was very pleased with the result, I have a friend who has agreed to go on this journey with me who has created a Facebook Page and Twitter feed and contact email for the team.

Facebook:  Cheshire Cavaliers Flag American Football Team

Twitter:  @CavaliersFlag

Email: Cheshire_cavaliers@yahoo.com

So what next? Well it’s all about getting together; in the next few weeks we shall get as many players as possible together and get playing flag. Long term I have registered for a level 1 coaching course and when I have that I can look at a DBS check  (A DBS check may be needed for certain jobs or voluntary work, e.g. working with children or in healthcare) after that it’s all about creating a taster session that can go into schools.

I guess I had also best let you know a little about myself, my name is James Brewerton and while I love sport I am one of guys each club has, committed and keen but always getting injured. Last year I called time on every being able to play contact sport again and returned to an early love Photography I have been following several American football teams since and love the respect you receive from all players and coaches. While not in education myself I am in fact the only member of my family and in-laws who is not working in education. I have a natural ability to organise and coach over the years I have organised several charity event and help create a few clubs I in my second hobby miniature wargames (think Bloodbowl). As you can see I may not have the experience of playing the game but I feel I have all the skills needed to start something long lasting and a benefit to the game, you never know I may even get on the playing field for a few snaps.

Watch this space to see the rise of the Cheshire Cavaliers Flag Football Team.

Peace James