By Faniki Deche, Sports Editor and Felix Glanville, Sports Writer

Epigram was invited by the University’s American Football Society, Bristol Barracuda, for their Give it a Go session. Here are the interesting experiences of Felix and Faniki along with why you should be following the Barracuda’s this year.

Here in Epigram Sports, we spend most of our time trying to convince you to try one of the Uni’s vast sports societies. So one day we were like “let’s just do it ourselves” and we’ll tell you our thoughts and thanks to the Uni’s American Football Society (Bristol Barracuda’s) we have made that a reality. So join Faniki Deche and Felix Glanville on their experiences with American Football starting with Felix.

Felix Glanville: ‘The Community-feel of the society was clear.’

We began in the clubhouse, listening to an engaging and determined Head Coach James Gilchrist talk about the winning dynamic and welcoming environment that has been ever-present in the society, even from when Coach Gilchrist was a fellow student and captain several years ago. A whole range of events for the society is present throughout the year: playing in tournaments against other University teams, pub socials, a Friday night lights event, Super Bowl Sunday experience, and their newest creation: Flag Football.

It was remarkable to know that along with Coach Gilchrist, there are 17 other volunteer coaches, many ex-players of the University team, who have shaped this passionate, dedicated and energised society striving for success on and off the pitch. Their shared mindset of winning together and losing together had lit up the faces of the freshers in the room, and for us, who knew nothing really of the society, we found ourselves captivated by it.

We then headed out to pitch, and it was clear that all the dedication and passion by the coaches was not just for inside the classroom. There was a whole range of different exercises on show, the exact ones which the team uses during the week, from high intensity tackling manoeuvres against moving targets, to more laid-back field kicks, everyone was engaged and had a good laugh.

The community-feel of the society was clear. Older players offered advice and praise to eager freshers, as everyone wanted each other to do well and stay as safe as they can. This inclusion element for all players is something that second year Social-Sec, Roman Lewis-Palmer picked up on immediately while being part of the society in his first year. When asked one word to describe this club he confidently expressed

‘inclusivity is the standout thing about this club, and our non-contact Tuesdays is the perfect way we can get girls and boys joining our mixed society.’

It was then over to Faniki who was really eager to try out the training programme….

Faniki Deche: ‘I felt like I was training under Prime Guardiola.’

To be honest, I did feel a bit weird playing American Football after spending my entire life playing football, I mean “soccer.” But as a soccer player and fan (sorry but I will be saying soccer for now), I really appreciated the attention to detail given in the session. We were being taught the basics of course but the fact that pretty much every coach had their own niche made me feel like I was training under Prime Guardiola.

On to the actual drills, I joined the receivers mainly because I cannot throw a ball to save my life and the one thing I found cool about football is when the receivers catch a long ball at full speed. We practised both short and long catches and after this I can agree more with the idea that football can be for all sizes. Let’s just say I’m Messi’s height and Joaquin Phoenix’s build when he played the Joker. But with quick body feints and off-the-ball movements, I could evade players twice my size. Shame I couldn’t catch any of the long throws but fair play on the quarter backs who could throw that ball well over 50 yards without trying.

We ended on a game that was a mix of football and netball. Basically you couldn’t move when you receive the ball and the only way you could score was via a conventional touchdown. I finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of scoring a touchdown for the Epigram, of course I’m the first member to do so (we don’t talk about the final result cause my team got hammered). The session ended with a team huddle which I am very fond of cause it builds a team spirit and togetherness even though I was only there for a couple of hours and had no idea what their chant was. But overall it was a great experience, thankfully it was not that physical so I was never rugby tackled or anything, and with my touchdown, I’d give this a 9/10. Back to you Felix…

Finally, we had a chat with Coach Gilchrist, asking him what makes American Football standout to him, particularly in comparison to the more well-known societies like rugby and “football” at Bristol. He expressed that

‘It’s a sport that is suitable for anyone, where there is a position for any body type. We are also a real team here, with 50-60 athletes all working together for one goal of winning the game as we aren’t split into other little teams, just one large one.’

We then turned to the future of the team and asked the Coach what his plans are for this year and the ambitions he has for anyone interested in joining the team.

‘As my first year as head coach, we have a super ambitious committee with their vision and us working together. We have flag-football new for this year, a much more relaxed, non-contact, easy-going session every Tuesday, but also making more of game day experiences. We want to give Bristol something to cheer for like you have in an American college football game, we are going to get commentators down, music, cheerleaders, and make it as big of a show as possible. We really want to get 500 people down here [Coombe Dingle] all watching the game and learning about the sport!’

Their motto of ‘Stand tall. Stand proud.’ really strung true across the entire evening.

Epigram are incredibly grateful to Coach Gilchrist and the entire American Football society committee for offering us such an engaging Give-it-a go and for being so willing to talk to us across the evening! If you are interested, then take a look at what they have planned this year from their link below

@bristolcuda | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

University of Bristol American Football Team

Featured images: Faniki Deche