In this final episode we will be taking a look at what the future holds for American football. We will look at the future of the falcons during the next season, what the future for the sport in general looks like, and hear from a team GB coach.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to Limitless Rise of the Falcons.
00:23 I'm Daniel Anonu and in this final episode,
00:25 we'll be taking a look at what the future holds
00:27 for American football.
00:28 We'll look at the future of the Falcons
00:30 during the next season,
00:31 what the future for the sport in general looks like,
00:33 and hear from a Team GB coach.
00:35 But first, let's take a look at the Falcons' future.
00:38 Jessica Hulk spoke with members of the Falcons
00:40 about this upcoming season.
00:42 - The Falcons are just coming off of their last season,
00:45 but what does the future hold for them?
00:47 We asked some players what their attitude is
00:49 coming off of their loss in the playoffs.
00:51 - I wouldn't say there's a loss of confidence.
00:53 Yes, we're losing a few players through graduation,
00:56 but the main core is it's still there,
00:59 and with it being the first year of a program,
01:02 we just wanna build on what we've done this year
01:06 and just improve compared to this year.
01:08 - Like more of a redemption next year
01:10 to like win more games,
01:14 probably most likely go undefeated
01:15 and obviously win the division and the championship
01:17 and all that.
01:18 - I think the confidence is still really high.
01:21 I mean, we performed really well.
01:23 I think winning the South division
01:25 just shows that our potential is really high,
01:29 and we're gonna go into this next season
01:31 even better than before.
01:34 - We also talked about what ambitions they have
01:36 for the next season ahead.
01:37 - The ambitions are to definitely win the division again,
01:40 especially because we have the same teams
01:43 that we have this year,
01:45 and to make a deeper run into the playoffs
01:48 rather than losing in the first round.
01:50 - It's to like, I think most of the team
01:52 wants to get into prim,
01:53 and like show why we're the best in the division.
01:57 - Since the off season is essential training time,
01:59 we discussed the possible changes in how the team trains.
02:02 - I think the training is really good.
02:05 We've got about four plus GB affiliated coaches.
02:10 Two of our coaches, I think they play for Team GB,
02:14 and a lot of them are play for a division one team.
02:19 They're all very, very good.
02:21 - Now that it's established
02:22 and everyone knows what they're doing,
02:24 we can start it a lot earlier,
02:29 which then has the intensity for games better
02:32 at the stage of the first game.
02:35 - Probably higher intensity,
02:36 as I feel like in the last game of the season,
02:39 it started slacking off a little bit.
02:40 - Every year, the team gains new recruits
02:42 from the first years that join university.
02:44 But what do they look for in new players?
02:46 We also talked about what they want for the team
02:48 going forward to ensure success.
02:50 - You just need someone that's willing to commit,
02:53 willing to put the effort in for the gym,
02:56 trainings, film, stuff like that.
02:59 And someone who's willing to just listen, to be honest.
03:04 - And more people that are willing to win
03:07 the way that we felt that we wanted to win this year.
03:09 - We just need to work on the togetherness
03:12 and not losing our heads in tricky situations.
03:16 So, especially the first playoff game,
03:19 with it being a lot of first years,
03:21 a lot of people that haven't experienced playoffs,
03:24 they lost their heads very quickly.
03:27 And I'd say that's the main thing we need to work on.
03:30 - I think we just need to work on relentless effort more.
03:32 Like, even if we win all our games,
03:36 let's still play as if that game was our last game.
03:38 - And next, let's look at the future development
03:42 of American football and how it's become popular worldwide.
03:45 Nyoka Gordon spoke to Tom Owen to talk more on this.
03:48 - Globally, American football has seen
03:50 an exponential growth in recent years.
03:52 We asked Tom Owen, a sports journalist,
03:55 to explain the reason for this
03:57 and just how the sport has become so popular.
03:59 - The most obvious way the NFL has expanded
04:04 is by playing regular season games in the UK,
04:09 which they've been doing since 2007.
04:13 And that was one game in that season,
04:15 a competitive league fixture played in Wembley.
04:19 And that expanded to up to four games a few years ago.
04:22 I think they actually dropped down
04:23 to three most recent seasons.
04:26 And the NFL has taken that model
04:29 of playing competitive regular season games in London,
04:32 and they've expanded that to Germany.
04:35 I think it's the past two seasons,
04:38 that's certainly last year.
04:40 And this season, they're also gonna play a game in Brazil.
04:44 - We then asked about any future plans
04:46 concerning the NFL and the UK.
04:48 - NFL teams get eight home games a year,
04:52 but Jacksonville only plays seven of those
04:55 in Jacksonville in Florida,
04:58 where they always play one home game at Wembley.
05:02 It's to try and sort of give the UK a team.
05:06 And last season, they played an away game,
05:10 their next away game, also in London.
05:12 So they spent a week, you know,
05:15 a full week or a bit more in London,
05:17 as in a home game the one week,
05:18 and an away game also in London the following week.
05:22 - Finally, we asked about the plans currently being planned
05:26 for the development of American football in the future.
05:29 - They want fans, they want people who watch the game
05:32 in other countries, but I don't see them as,
05:36 the NFL, as gonna put a huge amount of effort
05:39 into trying to develop a large number of players
05:42 that it's more interested in
05:45 with its International Player Pathway Program,
05:48 attracting the very best athletes from other countries
05:53 who may be able to transition to American football.
05:56 - And now it's time for the final Tony Teaches,
06:01 where we learn fundamental manoeuvres of the game
06:03 with our resident running back, Tony Mizunichita.
06:06 This week, he taught us, the Limitless production team,
06:09 the ultimate skill one needs in order to really
06:11 call themselves an American football player.
06:14 Let's take a look.
06:15 - Hello, and welcome back to Tony Teaches.
06:17 This week, I taught the Limitless
06:18 Rise of the Falcons production team,
06:20 the ultimate move every player needs in their arsenal
06:23 in order to call themselves an American football player.
06:26 Now, let's see how they got on with
06:28 their touchdown celebrations.
06:30 - He calls that dance the gritty.
06:31 - You got the old gritty dance going on.
06:33 - This is how you want the gritty done.
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08:00 - And finally, earlier I sat down with the Team GB's
08:16 under-19s offensive coordinator, John Moore,
08:19 to gain a better understanding about the future of Team GB
08:22 and what their aims are.
08:23 I started by asking him how far they are into their programme.
08:27 - GB under-19s, we have, we're in the 2024 cycle,
08:32 and it generally, each cycle starts off with
08:36 beginning of the year recruitment, heavy recruitment,
08:40 because obviously players age out and then players age in.
08:44 So we do a lot of work with the GB under-17s,
08:47 developing players,
08:48 and naturally ready to come up to under-19s.
08:50 And we, this year we've had the hurdle of Baffa
08:54 removing the under-19s from the IFAF competition,
08:57 which has been quite a barrier,
08:59 and Coach Rowe and Rav, the team manager,
09:01 have done an amazing job in sourcing alternate game.
09:05 And actually the team are four days out from a game
09:09 against Paderborn, which is a German under-19 team.
09:13 - How do you look to progress
09:15 and achieve the team's ultimate goal?
09:17 - We've got a great group of coaches
09:19 from all over the country, actually,
09:22 which is one of the great benefits,
09:23 is literally we've got pro coaches from programs
09:26 in the very south of the country, Manchester, North,
09:29 and the players come from all over the country.
09:31 We're about, the ultimate goal,
09:34 it really is creating the best football players we can
09:36 at under-19, such as the diversity of football.
09:40 We want to standardise the coaching,
09:42 expose them to the highest possible coaching that we can,
09:45 give them stuff to go away with and work on.
09:47 And ultimately we want to give the players
09:49 the experience of playing with the GB shirt
09:52 against the top level opponents.
09:54 - And so this week we're focusing
09:56 on the future of American football.
09:58 So how does that look like for your programme,
10:00 through your eyes?
10:01 - The future is very, very strong.
10:05 There's an absolute need,
10:06 muted about participation level against the elite level.
10:10 And there's room for both.
10:13 There has to be both because I've got two daughters,
10:18 or three daughters, two of them play flag football.
10:21 They go along and play for the Kent Exiles flag football
10:25 and they love it.
10:28 And there's absolute room for that.
10:29 And there's committed volunteers coaching
10:31 those kids at that level.
10:33 And, but there kind of has to be a pathway
10:37 'cause the NFL Academy and all the work that Jags Academy
10:42 and now the NFL are doing in schools,
10:47 there has to be a pathway where players
10:49 and young athletes can do what the players
10:52 on the IPP pathway are doing and ending up,
10:55 signing contracts for NFL teams.
10:58 All because under 19 year old, 18, 17, 18 year old,
11:01 young people have a lot going on in their lives
11:03 with studies and all the rest of it.
11:04 So, but we've got, it's a key part to play.
11:07 There has to be aspirational elite,
11:12 if you want to give it that title football,
11:13 but there's room for all of it.
11:15 There's doesn't affect the grassroots.
11:16 One doesn't have to suffer because the other exists.
11:21 It's all part of the same pathway.
11:23 - Well, John, thank you so much for coming on the show
11:26 and sharing your expertise and insight
11:27 into American football and team GB.
11:30 Now we've reached the end zone of today's episode.
11:34 This is the final episode of Limitless Rise of the Falcons.
11:38 But if you do want to watch all 10 episodes,
11:40 you can watch it at kmtv.co.uk.
11:43 But from all of us on the Limitless team,
11:45 thank you and goodbye.
11:47 (upbeat music)
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12:01 you
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