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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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