American football returned to the North West as the Donegal Derry Vipers Youth began training at the City of Derry Rugby Club last Saturday.
There was a good turnout as the boys from both Donegal and Derry pulled on their helmets and pads and took their first steps into full contact American football.
The coaching team were delighted with the talent on show and believe that they have huge potential to work with this year to develop a winning team from the 2022 Vipers Youth squad.
Head Coach Niall Lyons said that he would like to add another 5 players to the team over the course of the next 4 weeks to make sure his team is competing with the biggest and best in the country.
“Over the next month, we intend to take on as many new players as possible, boys and girls are both welcome to come down and try the sport out and see if it’s for them,” he said.
“No one is thrown into the deep end, we take it step by step and make sure the player is ready for contact or moving on to the next level.”
American football has been growing from strength to strength in Ireland over the last decade and the Vipers already have an established senior kitted team (full contact football) and a flag football team (non-contact football).
Niall’s plan is to build on the youth team’s opening season in the league last year by adding to their ranks and pushing on to become even more competitive this year.
“We have a fantastic bunch of players from Donegal and Derry who are now hooked on the sport and are keen to welcome new mates to our squad,” he said.
The next training session takes place on Saturday from 10am to 1pm.
To sign up for the Vipers Youth Team, follow this link: www.ddvipers.com/sign-up-for-the-vipers/
You can also sign up via Facebook @donegalderryvipers, or e-mail: donegalderryvipers@gmail.com
