Football in the UK

I would love to visit with you. It's good to spread the game across the pond. I almost coached in Oulu, Finland once. Turned it down at the last minute and often wish I would have taken the chance. I must admit I am a little jealous, I would love to coach overseas someday. In the meantime I would gladly sit down and try to give you what help I can. When will you be in the states?

A lot of teams offer you a job as an english teacher... This isnt like in HS, its kinda one of those "english as a second language course".

Also don't go to a team that wont pay your bills for you. If they can't afford that, they can't afford you. If you look hard enough there are lots of good coaching jobs over here, and its a great place for young coaches to get experience and for older coaches who aren't into the pressures of high level coaching anymore.

I know my experience over here will pay off when and if I decide to go home...

www.europlayers.com is a website set up for teams, players, and coaches to get in touch with each other. If you register you would be able to get in touch with teams that are looking for american players and coaches and get some general information on them.

www.efaf.info is the official website for the European Federation of American Football. This website has more information on European football on the international level, like EuroBowl (European Club Championships) and the European and World Championships. It also has links to all of the European members federation pages.

www.kouvolaindians.com is my club's webpage. I warn you it is in Finnish but some random clicks will lead to some good info.

Coaching over here is definitely different then coaching back home, but I feel the experience has been well worth it. I came over to Europe for personal reasons, but once I got involved with the football community I was hooked.

The one thing you have to realize when coming over here is that while football is important to them, they have lives outside of football and you can only demand of them what you can get on the practice field. You have to adapt quickly to minimal equipment and time, which I think has made me a better coach. When I get back to the states someday Ill be able to impliment an offense like the St. Louis Rams in a month cause Im used to doing it over here.

Though I feel I have grown a lot and could coach at the HS level back home, I'm not ready to leave because my work isn't finished. One thing I am trying to do with my team here in Finland is introduce them to modern football. Finland is traditionally based in 4-3 defenses and I form power football. They grow big strong lineman and similar backs. While power and size is good...speed is truly the only thing that kills in my opinion. When I came to my club I saw the potential to teach them a new way of thinking about the game. So I have slowly and steadily implimented the Utah Spread and the 3-3-5 defense. I'm not trying to change the whole country, but when my teams start flying by them I think it will help them modernize!

Coach Ross,

I coach in Scotland. We too have a handful of americans each year, mostly university students on transfers. All those who had experience at a decent level came as advertised, but others as you suggest are maybe surprised at the level we can achieve.

However I must say the work ethic put in by those who realise that playing in the UK is their only shot at football is amazing. I helped one player rework his entire style of running, something that should take probably 2 years - he trained twice a day, every day and improved dramatically in seven months.

I'll try to help with your questions..

1. Its like semi pro over here. Most senior teams are 17 and up. Some leagues you need to be 18, some 19, etc. Usually those younger guys overlap and play both seniors and juniors (usually U19). As a head coach you would probably want to have a hand in all sections of the team and work with as many players as you can. My club has a U15, U17, U19, and senior team.

2. There is no such thing as school sponsored sports in most of Europe. It is all done through clubs. To get a job teaching english most of the time is it at a city sponsored "english for foreigners" type class. Very easy stuff that anyone who speaks english could do.