West Coast Wolverines

On Sunday April 22nd the West Coast Wolverines Flag Team played its first match in the Gridiron West Premier League for the opportunity to become flag State Champions.

The Wolverines first opponent were the Perth Broncos, led by experienced quarterback “Bluey”. He was quick to show the speed which troubled so many teams during the regular season. The Wolverines defence held firm though under team captain Ryan Bharat and Junior Defensive Co-Ordinator Jimi Griffiths. Quarterback Josh Horneman quickly found his feet and regularly the hands of Joel “Hollywood” Van Der Meer, fresh off winning the National Championship with the WA Raiders.

It was a solid performance from the entire team resulting in a 50-26 win.

Next Match:

29th April @ 3:30pm – WCW vs Rockingham Vipers – Curtin University

Damian Lane

Vice-President

Hey Wolverines!

Earlier this week fellow Wolverine Brandt Honda was interviewed about everything Grid-Iron on 990am’s “Not the Footy Show”.

You can listen to “Not the Footy Show” every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 990am, or read more about the show on their website www.notthefootyshow.com. Make sure you also like their Facebook page!

Big thanks to the guys at 990am and “Not the Footy Show” for all their support for Grid-Iron in WA!

You can check out the interview here.

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After a successful first season in 2010, our main goal will be to improve in every aspect as a club. I remember listening in on the huddle at the last training before the first game against the West Coast Fire. The players and coaches predicting then, that the club would finish 4th in the league. That prediction fell just short as the Perth Broncos tied the Perth Blitz in the final game of the season to finish 2 points ahead of us. Nearly achieving your goal in your first season against teams that have been around for a while was a great achievement by all of the players and coaches!

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Can we improve our finish on the ladder this season? Yes is the answer to that question! To achieve that improvement, we must first believe that we can do it. Then, we must prepare and do the extra work. Winning is a lot of fun and improving your game is even more fun.

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I will give you my 100% and as a team we cannot accept anything less. You are playing one of the greatest games in the world. I have no doubt that as we build unity in the club and as you go to battle in games, you will feel a sense of brotherhood that you will want to protect and see your brothers succeed. This will only come through commitment to each other. I see great potential in the player group and look forward to trying to help all of you to succeed.

Pre-season training will start on Saturday, July 23rd. We will have a double training session on the day, concentrating on fundamentals and generic drills to get back into swing. One of my strategies this year will be to use our speed and youthfulness and try to out hustle and out run our opponents. Trainings will always have a fitness component, thus the more you do now to upgrade your fitness, the easier it will be when you train before and during the season. Being able to go 100% in the games, will be a big factor in preventing injury and definitely benefit your game.

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We will continue to train on Mondays and Thursdays to prepare for the season and our first game against the West Coast Fire on September 30th.

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I am looking forward to working with everyone and helping the club improve on and off the field.

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Coach Honda

0434886050

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By Allan Gorman

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For the first time ever in Australia an opportunity for a younger generation to experience playing Gridiron will open up in the Northern suburbs of Perth. The West Coast Wolverines Youth Football League, a highschool based flag competition for 12-14 year olds will kick off it’s first season in October 2011. Flag football or Gridiron “light” as it is affectionately called is a modified version of the game. Flag football is played in a similar fashion to touch rugby and the like but using a specialised belt with “flags” that are pulled off instead of tackling.

“Being a non-contact version of gridiron, it makes for a fun yet less intimidating way to learn the basics of the game” said club president and football director Ryan Cope.

“In the inaugural season of the competition we hope to see over 70 young people introduced to the game for the first time that otherwise would not be involved”.

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Being the first of the sports kind in the 12-14 year old age group Australia wide, the club hopes that it will not only strengthen the clubs Junior Gridiron team (15-18 year olds), but will expose the sport to a much wider audience through parents and schools becoming involved. This view seems to be supported by the clubs governing body Gridironwest with the leagues president, Ben Gastarov stating, “I think it’s a great venture to try and bring more age groups and volunteers into the game by an up and coming team of Gridironwest. This will hopefully be a building block for the rest of the league to mirror and expand on the fast growing game of American football.”

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The main aim of the league is to offer a unique, non-contact version of the game to as many young people as possible, while keeping costs to the player and their family at an absolute minimum in what is traditionally an expensive sport. To do this the club plans to seek government and local highschool assistance with funding for teams to reduce team set up costs such as equipment and registration with the sports governing body Gridiron Australia. The club also hopes to secure a major sponsor for the league in the next 2 months and looks forward to building a strong two way relationship with a local company keen to help implement a dynamic, new youth sports program that focuses on using the appeal of such a unique sport to see kids becoming actively involved in sport where they otherwise may not be physically active.

“Thats one of the great benefits of gridiron. ” commented Mr Cope, “When the trend is usually that bigger kids get picked last (in other sports), gridiron is one of those sports that these kids get picked first. It’s a game that includes everyone, even more-so with the flag version of the game”

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The league hopes start running flag clinics at interested highschools over term 3, with games being played on Saturday mornings during Term 4.

If you or someone you know is interested in having their school involved please contact the club at youthleague@wolverinesfootball.com.au

Anyone interested in volunteering with coaching, refereeing or helping out in general please contact club president Ryan Cope rcope@wolverinesfootball.com.au

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