The NFL needs YOU!

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

The popularity of American Football in England has never been higher with the National Football League (NFL) holding their ‘International Series’ of games in London every year since 2007.

But while the four games planned for this year have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the youngsters of South London can still get close to the action by trying out for The NFL Academy, virtually, and taking their first steps to becoming a professional player.

After starting operations in September 2019, The NFL Academy, based at Barnet and Southgate College, returns in 2020 seeking applications from male or female athletes aged 16-19.

The process is completely virtual with applicants showcasing their speed, power, agility and athleticism through four drills, filming them and then completing an online application form.

In the current COVID-19 situation the NFL Academy stresses that all filming should be conducted within government guidelines, adhering to social distancing. Once the videos and application are submitted, The NFL Academy coaches, led by Tony Allen, will evaluate the athletic and academic level and decide who to bring into the academy for the 2020/21 academic year.

Even though The NFL Academy virtual try-outs are open to anyone in Europe, the richly-experienced Coach Allen, who has been working for the NFL since the 1990s, told the South London Press that South London runs deeply through the academy.

“The bulk of our coaches are from South London and about 10 or so players in the intake of about 90 from last year,” said Allen, who is also the Director of Football for the London Warriors American Football Programme, currently based in Thornton Heath.

Allen has been involved with both playing and coaching American football at a variety of levels in South London since he started playing for the Croydon Coyotes in the 1980s before eventually moving into coaching at Streatham’s London Olympians after joining as a player in 1990.

“When I look back at it now, all the programmes I worked with were South London and there was longevity there so maybe there is something in the water?” said the Crystal Palace-based Allen. “One thing about our sport is that it’s a sport for all sizes. We have basketball players, powerlifters, swimmers – there’s a place for almost every size in terms of physical profile, we are just putting them through a testing regime of their athletic ability.

“In an ideal world, we would have a big combine-type (assessment) event, but our sport is so much about analysing film, that our coaches, who have NFL and US College backgrounds, it is not new to them,” he explained.

“For us it’s about getting their indicators of their athletic ability – it doesn’t mean that they are or are not players, we’re just looking forward to seeing the film.”

But for those who are successful in applying for The NFL Academy, the SE postcodes could be swapped for the zip codes of America – something that the Carolina Panthers’ Efe Obada and Cleveland Browns’ Tigie Sankoh, who previously lived in Streatham and Brockley respectively, can attest to.

But any budding Tom Brady’s or Odell Beckham Junior’s only have until 19 July to submit their entry and application – more information about the process and The NFL Academy can be found at www.nflacademy.com

Check the South London Press later this month for an in-depth interview with Coach Allen.