Author: Clive R

American Football is an expensive sport, but the

HoundDogs continue to try to reduce the financial impact on the Youth of East Sussex involved with the sport. Recently the club have continued with its development and created an U19’s team, thus creating a pathway for children from 7 years of age to continue to train and play American Football right the way through to the age of 19. When the club was formed back in May of 2016, the club had 8 players, and can now boast over 35 regularly playing and training for the club. The newly formed U19’s will team up with two other teams from the Southeast Region for the 2019 season to form the SE Legion. All three teams currently do not have enough players on their own to compete in the National Leagues for 2019, but as a collective they can boast a large squad. The HoundDogs are looking for a ball sponsor of around £150 to help cover some of the cost that the balls cost each season. The balls are an expansive part of the game with each ball costing nearly £80 each. The Club are looking to recoup some of the £700 it

has paid out by means of a ball sponsor. The U17’s currently have EuroShowers as their ball sponsor and in return the for their kind donation the EuroShowers logo has been lasered onto the ball. A Similar process will also be completed for anyone coming forward to sponsor the U19’s, as well as a link from the clubs website to the sponsors and multiply mentions over the course of the 2 years on social media. Anyone interested please contact us on hellinglyhounddogs@hotmail.com or visit our website at http://www.hellinglyhounddogs.com

 

 

Hellingly HoundDogs players are due to

return to training on Wednesday the 23rd of January at their new temporary home at Eastbourne Sports Park from 6:30PM. This season is slightly different to previous years with the Flag teams returning earlier this season as they prepare themselves as they compete against other local teams in friendly games.

The Contact/Kitted teams will also train at the same time as the Flag teams at the same venue.

The HoundDogs are looking for new players to join their existing players. So if you are aged 7 to 19 and fancy giving American Football a try, now is your chance to be part of the HoundDogs organisation. The HoundDogs are also looking out for more potential coaches to join the club. The Club can help with the cost of training and  educating programmes.

The HoundDogs are renting the ground thanks to a grant of £500 from Hellingly Parish Council. The club has also joined forces with hellingly Rugby Club and are sharing the facility with both clubs training at the same time.

Luke Boorer, HoundDogs Chairman added “We thank the Parish Council for their donation to the club and it will help our players continue training at their usual time and day of the week as they are use too. Without the financial assistance we may have had to change our training day and time and this has a massive impact on player availability. We found this last year when we had to move to a Saturday because of Horsebridge being waterlogged. Being a Youth Sport, we soon realised that a lot of the players have Saturday job and were really restricted with the time they could spend training. We are also looking forward to working with Hellingly Rugby Club. The sports share so many fundamentals with tackling techniques etc, that maybe both clubs can teach each other a thing or two. Plus it’s always good to work on the relationships we have with other Hellingly Sports Trust members”.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all HoundDogs players, families and club supporters . We hope to see you soon.

Hellingly HoundDogs YAFC are pleased to announce another successful grant bid application from Sport England for £9959 to help fund the essential equipment that is needed to help kick start the U19’s team. The money will be spent on providing new players with player safety equipment including helmets and pads along with more vital training equipment.

With the HoundDogs joining forces with East Kent Mavericks and Kent phoenix for the 2019 BAFA U19’s season, the grant comes in just at the perfect time for the club to help develop players in time for the SE Legion project.

Chairman Luke Boorer added “The Committee has been working hard behind the scenes to get the HoundDogs ready to launch the U19’s. With Bafa altering the age limits for the U17’s this year, it meant we would have lost several player if we hadn’t had launched the U19’s. These players would have had to move to another club, miles away to continue to play football. This is something that the Committee really didn’t want to see. This also adds another string to the club’s bow, but also means more work. this really does add the icing to the cake this year. After successfully being awarded as a ClubMark club, this really demonstrates the clubs desire to offer football to the youth of East Sussex. This funding really couldn’t have come at a better time for the club. this means we can order the equipment that we want and hopefully it will be ready to go when we return to training on the 23rd of January.”

The HoundDogs are still looking for more players from ages 7 to 19 to join the club’s different age groups. If you, your child or someone you know may be interested, please get in touch. We require players of all ages, sizes and experience to join our club.

The South East has seen strong and sustained growth in Youth American Football over the past few years. Clubs have worked collaboratively to increase the number of young people playing and the standards of coaching and development. As a result of this work we find ourselves in a position to support further progress and look at establishing a system of progression to encourage greater pathways and opportunities.

We will continue to support individual clubs development and growth, offer 

events, work with our NGB and other stakeholders to build the sport in our region.
Following discussions between clubs in the region, in conjunction with BAFA, it has been agreed to enter a combined team into the BAFA National League Under 19’s competition for the 2019 season. East Kent Mavericks, Kent Phoenix and Hellingly Hound Dogs players and coaching staff will work together to provide opportunities to play within the league. Had this agreement not been made then none of the clubs would have had squads sufficient to play and therefore by taking this approach we can ensure that our players are able to test themselves and continue to develop their skills.