Merseyside Nighthawks relaunched their youth academy on Sunday after volunteer’s started to dwindle in 2019.
The Nighthawks, which originally started as Birkenhead Nighthawks, were started in the 1980s.
The club were set up by recently-inducted British American Football Hall of Fame inductee Gary Lee after merging with another local club.
In 2019, the youth academy was pulled because volunteer numbers started to fall off.
However, numbers have improved since the pandemic.
General and operations manager for Merseyside Nighthawks Andy Taylor said:
“There is no experience necessary at all.
“Our dedicated coaches will support the youth players to learn the basics and hopefully they go on to play adult football and represent Great Britain or even go abroad to play.”
Youth training will be held at Childwall Sports and Science Academy.
Flag football starts from age 7-13 and youth contact from age 14-18.
Taylor said:
“We have 10 dedicated coaches keen to bring American Football to children and young people across Merseyside.
“All are, or are working towards, BAFA accreditation and have vast experience in either coaching and/or playing the sport.”
Additionally, the 2022 Super Bowl will take place this Sunday between the Cincinnati Bengals and the LA Rams.
Taylor touched on the UK’s ever-growing interest in the sport:
“It’s growing very quickly! We have noticed that interest in the sport has grown tremendously and that is reflected in the numbers that attend our games.
“The number of enquiries we get daily as well as how quickly our Super Bowl Party sells out each year!
“We still feel not everyone knows we exist and as an option to get fit, learn a new sport and improve mental health!”
(Featured Image – BeFunky- merseyside nighthawks – creative commons)
