Training With the UK’s NFL Hopefuls
Coach Hagen is getting grouchy. ‘Next time I see you doing that, I’m gonna kick your ass!’ he shouts out to one of the NFL hopefuls training on the synthetic turf at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Suddenly, on the opposite side of the field, he spots a different youngster executing the perfect catch of an 80-yard throw. Delighted, he sprints after him, congratulates him loudly and gives him a high five.
There are 20 or so young players in action on the Spurs stadium field, and perhaps a further 50 on the sidelines, waiting impatiently to demonstrate their skills. Hailing from 18 different nations, they’re members of what’s known as the NFL Academy UK, a player development programme based in Loughborough, in Leicestershire, designed to nurture young players from all over Europe and Africa.
Under the guidance of head coach Steve Hagen, it allows talent-spotted 16- to 19-year-olds to combine their secondary education (at a local college) with some highly intensive training in American football. Facilities include a high-performance gym, a synthetic turf field, swimming pools, and many of Loughborough University’s sports amenities. Ultimately, it’s all part of the NFL’s drive to grow their sport globally.
‘The way you do that is through grass roots and youth sport, where American football becomes a recognisable sport and people understand the rules,’ Hagen explains. ‘You can’t grow international football if it’s all in America.’
The academy boss, Lamonte Winston, sees his outfit as ‘a key pillar of the NFL’s long-term commitment to global football development efforts’.
The NFL already enjoys a healthy fanbase in the UK, thanks to the 36 games staged at Wembley, Twickenham and Tottenham Hotspur Stadiums since 2007, plus three more planned for October this year. The NFL’s own research suggests, perhaps rather optimistically, that there are more than 14 million fans of the sport on our island. Some believe an NFL team will eventually base itself full-time in Europe or the UK. The academy is a small step towards achieving this.
Having opened in 2019, it has already sent 19 players – 11 of them British – to compete at American universities in the top tier of college football. None have yet graduated to the NFL proper. There is, however, an adult NFL recruitment programme for players outside of North America called the International Player Pathway, and this has placed several players into NFL teams, including Welsh rugby player Louis Rees-Zammit, now running back for the Kansas City Chiefs.
When it comes to junior players, though, US college coaches need enormous persuasion to look at talent grown outside the United States. In addition to his stringent training regimen, Hagen has signed up his academy team for four games over the summer and autumn against US junior teams. He wants to prove his European and African players can hold their own against American youths who have been playing football their entire school careers. One of those games, on 8 October, will be against Californian high school team De La Salle Spartans in the Spurs stadium.
Right now, on a damp July day, as the academy players train at this north London facility for the first time, the stadium seats are virtually empty so that the yells from the quarterbacks and coach Hagen echo loudly around the bowl. High above the South Stand, visitors on a stadium tour edge along the glass walkway known as the Dare Skywalk. Just under 50m below them, the hybrid grass pitch that Spurs usually play on has been retracted to reveal the synthetic turf beneath, with its huge NFL logo painted on it – a field that has already hosted eight NFL games over the last six years.
Hagen has been at his Midlands base in Loughborough for only a year and has already received more than 2,500 applications for his academy. Some youngsters have a basic grounding in American football, while others are complete novices. Plenty of rugby players apply, as do basketballers and track and field athletes. Even the odd ‘soccer’ player. One kid who went through the academy used to be an archer.
As Hagen explains: ‘I am particularly looking for rugby athletes because they have to tackle and they have the hand-eye coordination, whereas some of the soccer players don’t.’
Hagen and his scouts stage recruitment camps – ‘combines’ they call them – in various cities across Europe and Africa where they spot potential talent. Large body frames, robustness and arm length are clearly important. Lack of muscle mass isn’t particularly a problem as Hagen’s strength and conditioning coach can quickly rectify that. Excess fat – or ‘non-functional body mass’ as they gently refer to it – can be shed fairly easily.
Originally from California, Hagen has been coaching football for 40 years. At his highest level he worked with NFL teams the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. Although he is impressed by the myriad sports facilities in Loughborough (but not the weather), he admits he could base his NFL Academy anywhere in the UK. ‘We could do this on Mars. Honestly, I really don’t care. I’m giving the kids the opportunity to chase their dreams at the fullest. I’m super biased but I believe this is their best chance to get to America.’
And that, of course, is what all these teenagers keenly desire. Take 18-year-old Nana Agyemang, an east Londoner who now plays defensive lineman for the academy. While he had a bit of experience in kick-boxing and basketball from his secondary school, his only previous experience in American football was through watching it on TV and playing the video game Madden NFL on PlayStation. In fact, it was by complete fluke that he was ever recruited to Hagen’s squad. He was shopping in a furniture store in south London when a scout spotted his height and large frame and suggested he might like to try out for the academy. A few months later, having shed some excess weight, Nana had been recruited. ‘I lost quite a bit of weight so they could see I was dedicated and willing to learn,’ he says.
This summer he completed maths, physics and business studies A-levels at Loughborough College. At 6ft 4in tall and now weighing 109kg, he has already been across to the States to train briefly at three colleges in North Carolina. He hopes to gain a football scholarship to play there full-time next academic year while studying engineering or architecture.
Another academy student is 18-year-old Samu Suominen, from Vaasa, on Finland’s west coast. He started playing a miniature version of American football at the age of 10, progressing to the full game at 15, and eventually competing in his country’s amateur league. Now 6ft 3in and 143kg, he mainly plays offensive guard. ‘We have Viking heritage in us,’ he says proudly of his huge stature.
Samu is confident he can win a scholarship to a US college, provided he produces a suitably impressive showreel of his action on the field. ‘I realistically can help my family through my hopes and dreams by playing American football,’ he announces.
Liam Dineen is a 17-year-old from Cork, in Ireland. He has earned himself a place on the academy squad thanks to his kicking skills, honed through years of playing Gaelic football. The first time he ever touched an American football was in October last year and it was only the day before he spoke to Men’s Health that he had ever worn football pads and a helmet. It’s his specialist kicking skills that he hopes will win him a scholarship to the US. After all, kickers in this sport aren’t required to play in the outfield at all. ‘All you need to have is the leg power,’ he says.
Aside from coach Hagen, the other man helping the players achieve their dream is the academy strength and conditioning coach Chris Baird. From Derbyshire, he has a background in swimming and boxing training, and once worked with a young Anthony Joshua.
Right now, Baird has his players doing eight technical sessions and three weight sessions every week. He says he has three key goals. Firstly he wants to make them ‘unbreakable’, building them up to withstand the rigours of the sport. Then he gives them specialist training according to their position. The offensive line and defensive line, for example, need to be bigger and more robust – ‘the bigs’, he calls them. The linebackers, running backs and tight ends are what he calls ‘the hybrid group’ as they need both size and speed. There’s a third group, ‘the skills’, which includes specialists such as wide receivers and defensive backs.
Although nearly every youngster in the squad is large, there is still quite a difference in overall size. Some of the kickers, for example, are smaller and skinnier compared to an offensive lineman. The heaviest player in the squad is 155kg and the tallest 6ft 9in.
‘We don’t want to take away a player’s unique quality,’ Baird adds. ‘I call it their va-va-voom. Maybe they’re incredible jumpers or incredible at deceleration. We want to keep stoking that fire, their special weapon.’
Baird uses a software program called Kitman Labs which helps him monitor the speed, strength, performance, sleep, nutrition and medical data of each of his players. And he regularly exchanges data with the other members of the coaching team: the physios, medics, nutritionists and sports psychologists.
Whether any of the NFL Academy players end up competing professionally in the NFL remains to be seen.
Both Nana Agyemang and Samu Suominen have their hearts set on it. ‘I think I can go as far as I want,’ says Samu with total self-belief. ‘I just have to do the work.’
Nana is also confident he will also soon be Stateside. ‘That’s if I continue to develop in the way I’ve been developing over the last few years,’ he says with infectious optimism. ‘The sky’s the limit.’
Train Like a Future NFL Star
The NFL Academy UK strength and conditioning coach Chris Baird suggests five key exercises
Deficit trap bar deadlift
‘You stand elevated on a small box so that you increase your range of motion as you do the deadlift,’ Baird says. ‘This activates the muscles you need for driving and grappling.’
Do 3-5 sets of four to six reps at 75% of your one-rep maximum.
Smith machine reverse lunge
Holding the Smith machine, step backwards with one leg and drop down, keeping your shin vertical, working the glutes. Then swap sides.
‘This focuses on the hip extensors which are a big part of acceleration when running,’ Baird says. ‘The Smith machine helps with stability.’
Football bar bench press
Unlike a traditional straight bar bell, a football bar, or Swiss bar, has multiple handles. ‘Football players do a lot of press work,’ Baird says. ‘This exercise will help them when they use their hands to block an opponent on the field.’
Manual eccentric hamstrings in a prone position
‘Hamstring pulls and tears are a big risk in football,’ Baird stresses. ‘We mitigate risks by developing the hamstring. Lie face down on a bench with an elevated hip. Another player pulls the heel down so the leg is straight. Keep the movement and velocity consistent throughout the action.’
Deadbugs
‘The speed and acceleration of a player comes from the trunk so we want to work the fundamental core movement,’ Baird says of this Pilates-style exercise. ‘Lie on your back with arms and legs in the air; lower the left arm while extending the right leg, and vice versa. Push down against the floor with your lower back.’
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