Newsflash 14 Nov

The event will be held once again in The Camden Court Hotel,Dublin.

Speakers this year include:

Aitor Trabado-Spain

Ted Seay-USA

Jim Messenger-UK(other BAFCA are tbc)

Also speaking will be IAFCA Coaches Mark Lawless,Ciaran O’Sullivan plus many more.

This year sees new features such as on site equipment and apparel stands selling items, DVD’s for sale, exclusive courses for Head Coaches, exclusive courses for novice coaches plus much more.

On Saturday evening the event will also continue the tradition of hosting The IAFCA Coach of The Year Dinner.For the first time, the cost of this event is included in the clinic fee, plus tickets are available for wives and girlfriends.

Level one courses and Level two courses will be hosted over the weekends, a must for anyone planning to coach football this year.

All in all it promises to be an exciting event.

To attend please mail darrin@americanfootball.ie for details of how to reserve your place!

IAFCA 2010 second speaker Aitor Trabado

IAFCA are proud to announce the second confirmed speaker for The IAFCA 2010 Convention is Spanish Coach Aitor Trabado.

Coach Trabado becomes the second speaker announced for the event,following last months announcement the Coach Ted Seay will be educating Irish Coaches on his “Wild Bunch” offense.

Coach Trabado is the Technical Director of ANTFA,the Spanish equivalent of IAFCA,aswell as Head Coach of the Spanish National Youth Team. Aitor spent part of last year with Mater Dei learning the secrets of their success and hopes to pass this knowledge to Irish coaches.

Coach Trabado has expressed his excitement at working with IAFCA, and sees a new relationship forged between Ireland and Spanish football. The following weekend sees ANTFA host its annual clinics,where IAFCA Technical Director Darrin O’Toole will be the guest speaker.

Keep checking www.americanfootball.ie for further announcements on more exciting speakers lined up for what promises to be IAFCA’s best convention to date.

On Monday evening,Coach Reinebold spent 4 hours giving clinics to IAFCA coaches, giving full access to the run and shoot concepts used at SMU, where along with June Jones he was part of a resurgence that led to a Hawaii bowl victory where SMU demolished the heavily favoured Nevada.

IAFCA Coaches learn from Coach Reinebold

Tues morning,Coach Reinebold and his wife were keen to take in Dublin,and visited Kilmainham Goal to take in some Irish history. Coach O’Toole then took them on a tour of Trinity College Dublin and Coach Reinebold and his wife got to visit The Book of Kells aswell as The Long Hall of TCD. On Tuesday evening, more coaches joined the returning ones to hear Coach Reinebold continue his series of excellent clinic talks on a variety of topics on all sides of the ball.

Wed evening was a great day for IAFA players as they got to join in on the fun. Player from all IAFL teams turned up to Castleknock College to take part in a field clinic led by Coach Reinebold.Coach Reinebold worked alongside IAFL  Coaches Lawless,O’Toole,Andrews,Loughran and Naylor in teaching the IAFL players how to practise to an elite level.

IAFCA Board Members Darrin O'Toole & Mark Lawless with SMU Coach

After the 3 days, Coach Reinebold said “I am really impressed with the level of play in Ireland,if players got a weightroom mentality and focused Ireland could have some big time players”.On the coaching front Coach Reinebold said “The coaches are some really tuned in guys,who have a thorough understanding of football”.Coach Reinebold also stated he looks forward to the inevitable re-emergence of Team Ireland and seeing how it progresses.

IAFCA Technical Director Darrin O’Toole said “This visit by Coach Reinebold has really shown that Ireland is starting to knock on the door of the worldwide football commuunity.Coach Reinebold really liked 2 of our players and it shows that if we can develop our players from a young enough age, the sky really is the limit for some of them”.

Jeff Reinebold, who is currently part of the Southern Methodist University Mustangs coaching squad, will be delivering coaching clinics to IAFL coaches and players between 19th and 21st July. Reinebold is well known to most sports fans as one of the pundits on Sky Sports coverage of the NFL. He won the World Bowl as Head Coach of the Amsterdam Admirals and has coached at University of Hawaii and in the Canadian Football League.  He has also been the NFL’s Senior Manager of International Player Development.

The on-field clinic open to all IAFL players will take place at Castleknock College in Dublin from 7pm onwards on Wednesday 21st July. All IAFL players are invited to attend. Castleknock College is the West Dublin Rhinos home venue.

Coach Seay and his famous wild bunch scheme comes to Ireland

 The IAFCA is delighted to announce that the first speaker for the 4th Irish American Football Coaches Association convention,held Sept 10-12th in The Camden Court Hotel,Dublin, will be Coach Ted Seay.

Coach Seay has built up a legendary following in the coaching community following the publication of his “Wild Bunch” Offense.Coach Seay has had a successful coaching  career at several different levels and has served as a consultant over the years for several teams worldwide. Coach Seay has been a guest speaker at various double wing & single wing seminars in Texas, Los Angeles & Philadelphia.

Coach Seay has coached internationally at the American High School in Mexico City, with the Waverley University Sharks in Melbourne, Australia, and as a volunteer assistant with the youth program of the Chrysler Vikings in Vienna, Austria.

Coach Seay is the first Coach to be confirmed for what promises to be IAFCA’s biggest convention to date.

Keep checking back for further exciting announcements.

If you are from overseas,we’d be delighted to have you but please read the following before contacting IAFCA:

Q: Do Coaches Get Paid?

A: No.Our coaches work voluntarily in their positions.Housing is not provided either.

Q:Will IAFCA arrange my visa?

A:No,all non EU citizens will have to have already arranged their visas before being considered for a coaching vacancy.

Q:Do I need to be qualified?

A:Yes.All IAFCA coaches are IAFCA level one minimum qualified.All Head Coaches are level 2 minimum.All IAFCA Head Coaches also hold Ethics in Sport licenses through the Irish Sports Council & have IAFCA Head Coaching Licenses, earned through ongoing training and appraisal.All these can be obtained through IAFCA.

Q:I have an education in coaching football from another country or NCAA,does this count?

A:Maybe.IAFCA does give recognition of prior development(RPD) based on previous education,if IAFCA has granted RPD status to the qualification.These are granted on a case by case basis,so contact IAFCA and we can investigate if you qualify.

Q:How do I join IAFCA?

A: Contact us once you have decided to coach in Ireland and are aware of the items above.We’ll be happy to assist you in getting started!

Jeff Reinebold, who is currently part of the Southern Methodist University Mustangs coaching squad, will be delivering coaching clinics to IAFL coaches and players between 19th and 21st July. Reinebold is well known to most sports fans as one of the pundits on Sky Sports coverage of the NFL. He won the World Bowl as Head Coach of the Amsterdam Admirals and has coached at University of Hawaii and in the Canadian Football League.  He has also been the NFL’s Senior Manager of International Player Development.

The IAFCA will be arranging a clinic for its members. There will also be an on-field clinic open to all IAFL players.  Both clinics will be held in Dublin – times/venues will be announced soon.

The IAFCA are extremely proud to announce a tie in with the Frank Glazier Clinics.

IAFCA Head Coaches will receive access to the Frank Glazier online database, which contains over 200 hours of video sessions by coaches from the NFL, NCAA and US High Schools, over 600 sets of their notes and numerous recorded and live webinars.

IAFCA Technical Director Darrin O’Toole said “IAFCA are delighted to announce the deal which will benefit the whole league. Our Head Coaches will now have direct access to the elite coaches from the USA. Glazier clinics are the best networked organisation there is for coaches and this will teach our coaches the inner workings of  top schemes. The fact that our coaches will have access means they can learn and develop themselves at their own pace, so all will improve themselves and their team through this”.

The new scheme will be seen as part of the continual development of coaches in our sport and further strenghtens awareness of IAFCA and the IAFA amongst the US coaching fraternity.

The Master Coaches of Irish Football meet in Dublin

Saturday 6^th March saw the IAFCA Master Coaches convene to the Camden Court Hotel once again, this time for the inaugural IAFL Head Coaches Meeting.

Each IAFL team was represented by their Head Coach and their Assistant Head Coach for this vital 4 hour session. IAFCA Technical Director Darrin O’Toole opened the meeting with a presentation on a Head Coach’s responsibilities on game day. Topics such as health & safety, team ethics, game day procedures and coaching conduct.

The second session saw IAFL Board members Maurice Cosgrave and Barry Bolton give an update on the IAFL By-Laws for 2010. Coaches asked a variety of questions and both Cosgrave and Bolton were extremely helpful in clarifying a number of items.

The IAFOA was next up and saw veteran IAFOA official Tony Rivers give a presentation on this year’s rule changes. Coaches could be seen furiously scribbling and taking down this vital update.

Following this a presentation on Coaching Etiquette throughout the season was given. Topics such as player registration, transfers and video trading were discussed.

Coach Paul McKillop of the Carrickfergus Knights was introduced at this point to give a presentation on proposed video citation procedures in the IAFL this season. Coaches exchanged viewpoints on the pros and cons of this system and Coach McKillop was given the IAFCA’s endorsement to continue working on this procedure for inclusion in the IAFL By-Laws this year, and this will be worked upon by the IAFL this week with the full support of IAFCA.

In closing Coach O’Toole officially welcomed the beginning of the 2010 season, and all coaches were extremely jubilant and looking forward to meeting each other in the coming weeks in the games ahead.