Warwick’s flag team give solid performance at their first ever tournament

This Saturday saw Warwick travel to Sheffield to enter a flag football tournament for the first time ever.

The squad consisted of a mixture of men and women (Wolves and Wolverines) – the only mixed team in the five-aside competition.

Their opening game saw them face veteran flag team, the Steel City Knights. After only a couple of plays, Pete Coppenhall picked off a Knight’s pass and returned for a touch-down. Warwick’s ecstatic opening was short-lived though as the play was called back for an illegal jump move. Warwick, despite being the inexperienced side, played with a lot of heart and managed to keep the Knights down to one score. However, in the dying moments of the game a deep-pass from Warwick was picked off and returned for a second Knight’s touch-down. Final score: Knights 14 – Warwick 0.

The second game was against Young Boys Sheffield – a team made up from Sheffield University’s American Football team. Driven on by their solid performance in the first game Warwick’s quarter-back, Stel Kabouridis, found Liam Fishwick on a deep pass to open the scoring. From then on both team’s defences held firm and the single score decided it. Final score: Sheffield 0 – Warwick 6.

With Stel picking up an ankle injury in the second game and Warwick’s third opponents, Webster-Fest, double-covering Liam as the deep threat it was not long before Warwick were picked off and found themselves down early in their third game. A lack of concentration by Warwick, and some fantastic defensive play by Webster-Fest, saw Warwick down three scores by the half. Luke Selzer stepped into the quarter-back role, and after settling down Warwick made the second half a lot more even. Philip Gaydon managed to wrestle the ball off two players in the air to take in Warwick’s first touchdown, and Luke found him with a deep-pass for their second. However, Webster-Fest also managed to find another two touchdowns in the second half. Final score: Webster-Fest 34 – Warwick 13.

The fourth game saw Heather James step up as quarter-back and she surprised Warwick’s fourth opponents, who were feeling comfortable with two wins already, as she, and fellow female team-mate Anna Gruber, strung together a well-executed drive of short-passing and running that took Warwick from their own five-yard line to their opponent’s, narrowly missing out on a touchdown. After getting the ball back it was Warwick that scored first, via a Liam Fishwick catch. El Presidente Barra fought back to take the next two scores, but Warwick were not done yet. With one play left Pete Coppenhall managed to force the ball in. Unfortunately, an inch-too-low pass saw Warwick miss out on the extra two points, the whistle blowing on a final score of El Presidente Barra 15 – Warwick 13.

After coming in as an unknown team that comprised of players who had never played as a whole before, Warwick can be extremely proud of the way they performed – finishing fourth out of five in their group. Liam Fishwick was outstanding given it was his first ever experience of flag football, but the biggest congratulations has to go to Heather James and Anna Gruber for truly holding their own as the only women at the event and showing the guys that they were not to be underestimated!

Wolves Mixed Team. From left to right: Luke Selzer, Heather James, Anna Gruber, Liam Fishwick, Philip Gaydon, Pete Coppenhall, Stel Kabouridis

 

Posted by Phil Gaydon on 13th June 2011  

The UK’s First Girls’ Flag Football Match Goes Down A Storm

Sunday 20th March 2011 was an important day for American Football in Britain: it saw the University of Warwick hosting the country’s first official women’s flag football match between the Warwick Wolverines and the Coventry University Jets.

 

Good weather and high spirits preceded the opening plays of the game, and both side-lines continued to enjoy them throughout the game. The Wolverines (playing in Wolves red) led by Reem Brooks and Becky Smith, struggled in the opening drives of the game against a more physical Jets team (playing in Coventry University Jets blue & white) and it wasn’t long before the Wolverines found themselves down by six points. However, soon after an excellent play from Becky Smith saw a Jets pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown, bringing the scores level at 6-6 going into halftime.

 

As the day progressed, it became clear that the two teams had radically different approaches to the sport: whilst the Jets focussed on a fast running game coupled with solid tackling, the Wolverines focussed more on accurate passing and intelligent defending, which saw them make in the region of seven interceptions. However, it was the tactics of Coventry which won out in the end, with a couple of strong running plays seeing them score a further twelve points in the second half to take the score to 18 – 6. Despite this, it would be difficult to maintain that the score was an accurate representation of the game, as the Wolverines impressed with their consistency and composure, despite some questionable refereeing decisions which saw tempers flare on the side lines.

 

After the game, presentations were made to all players to commemorate the event, and the Wolverines presented their outgoing coaches Pete Coppenhall and Philip Gaydon with gifts to thank them for all the hard work they’ve put into developing and training the team. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the Coventry Jets senior flag football team take on the Plymouth Pirates, teaching cheerleading stunts to the somewhat inflexible Wolves players who’d come to support the Wolverines, before an informal and good natured game between Warwick and the Pirates ended the day.

 

Both Coaches Coppenhall and Gaydon made clear how impressed they were with the Wolverines, and how far they’d come since the team’s formation a few short months ago. The incoming Wolverines coaches, Simon Kroll and Charles Douglas, intend to continue developing the team in the next academic year but for now, there’s only one thought on the minds of the team and staff, and it isn’t exams.

 

It’s a rematch.
BY CHARLIE DOUGLAS

Posted by Benedict Nagle-Taylor on 21st March 2011  

Congratulations to the newly elected 2011/12 Exec committee!

The Warwick Wolves finished the 2010/11 season with their best record for six years and are looking to build on this great success with the election of their 2011/12 Exec committee.

After the Annual General Meeting, the Exec Elections and the Warwick Wolves are proud to announce that the 2011/12 season will be led by:

 

President – Ben Nagle-Taylor

Vice-President – Tom Chester

Treasurer – Marcus Cross

Communications and Publicity – Conor Durham

Community – Charlie Douglas

Kit Manager – Alex Eddie

Fitness – Will Berry

Social – Wayne Drew

President of the Wolverines – Reem Brooks

 

Congratulations to the new committee and many thanks to the outgoing Exec; your commitment, dedication and hard work has been thoroughly appreciated. Without your leadership we would not have been as successful as we were this year.

We would also like to congratulate the President-elect of the Warwick Wolverines Girls’ Flag Football Team. This year, the Wolverines became the first and so far most successful girls’ team in the UK and under the able leadership of Reem Brooks and the new Community Sec Charlie Douglas, the Wolverines will go from strength to strength next year.

Posted by Benedict Nagle-Taylor on 17th March 2011