Over the coming months we will be visiting, and reporting on, a wide range of different sports and fitness activities. We want to show you the benefits associated with them and help you find your favourite way to keep fit and healthy. This week’s piece is on American Football in Ireland so last week Brian and I went to see Trinity American Football Team take-on UCD American Football Team in UCD College, Dublin.
Watch the Video Now to see clips from the game
The match was part of the Irish American Football Development League. This is a league consisting of eight teams, with each team playing eight players a side. There is no kicking of the football allowed in this league. It is tailored towards first and second year clubs, to allow them to develop a player base without having to compete against the best teams in Ireland who play full rules with eleven players a side.
Having only seen clips of different matches before and, of course, having heard of the mighty Super Bowl I was curious to find out exactly what level the players would be at and what type of skill would be on-show. To be honest, I had a pre conception of guys being padded from head to toe with little chance of injury or feeling any hard tackl… I was wrong!
Arriving down I was first very impressed by the energy of the players, with adrenaline filling the air as they skilfully ran through their warm-up set-plays. Looking across the pitch I watched UCD players take turns in standing out whilst each of the other players took turns charging and tackling them!
I spoke to Kieran Hegarthy who is the strength and conditioning coach for the team and Matt who is the team captain. Firstly he showed how little padding they wear, it consists only of shoulder pads and some light padding along the legs.
Kieran compared the game to chess, very strategic and tactical. Each team consists of an offense and defence team. Depending on the role, the skills required vary; the defence need strength and power to protect the runners whilst some of the offence need skilful speed to weave through the opposing defence. The team do strength and conditioning training two to three times per week. Along with this, they have a technical session, where they run through the different strategic plays that they change each week, and training sessions to implement the new plays.
Watch the Video Interview with Kieran and Matt below
I really enjoyed the game. There was obviously a lot of hard work that went into the preparation from both sides. The tackles went in hard, tempers flared and blood boiled at times. To watch the offense find a gap in the opposing defence, for the quarterback to skilfully pick out a runner who is being protected by his team mates to run in and touch down is very impressive and exciting to watch. In the end Trinity were the victors, they won comfortably 42 - 0. Congratulations to Matt, Keiran and the lads!!
Supplements that work great for American Football are:
- Protein: Improve muscle growth and recovery (click here for more…)
- Creatine: Increase strength, power, stamina and recovery (click here for more…)
- Mass Gainers: Build mass for those heavy hits (click here for more…)
To find out more about American Football in Ireland you can visit www.IAFL.info.
If you play a sport or activity and would like us to visit you please give us a call on 01-5213184.
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