Most good football teams understand the importance of their grass root programs. That is giving youngsters the opportunity to take part in American Football, albeit slightly different rules, so that they can hopefully be engaged at a younger age and continue their development into the senior ranks. Every year there are National Finals for youth programs in the variations of American Football (Cadet Flag, Junior Flag, Youth Kitted & Junior Kitted) - here are the finals from 2013:
It is much the same at the Nighthawks, we are always excited when we see a product of the youth team ascend the ranks and made it to senior training. The following piece is a short write up from one of our stand out players from defence, Phil Holker who joined us from the youth set up this season. We asked him what the main differences were between the youth and adult side of the game and what advice he would have for younger American Football fans.