By Ben Raskino
After watching the Giants beat the Patriots
in Super Bowl XLVI I knew I wanted to play American football, and after being
accepted at the University of Birmingham I had the opportunity to join one of
the most decorated teams in the country in the form of the Birmingham Lions.
Before the ‘taster session’ held in Fresher’s Week you could sense the
nervousness in the would-be players, almost all of them having never played the
sport before, and all of them uncertain as to what the nature of the Lions
would be. The taster session afforded all of us with an informal trial of all
of the basic positional drills, but with a glimpse of the intensity of a
genuine Lions training session with the veteran linebackers screaming at us to
tackle the bag with more ferocity, and potential Lions unsurprisingly
struggling to prevent Tristan Varney’s high velocity passes slipping through
their fingers. I incidentally opted to play as a Defensive Back.
Those who decided to persevere were then
inaugurated into the full Lions program. This includes weekly classroom
sessions focused on not only installing new plays but also studying game film
of opposing teams, adding a true sense of depth and professionalism that I wasn’t
expecting, but was certainly excited by.
