With only nine days to go until the UOG Gladiators first BUCS game this season against Worcester, Ewan Burr thinks it is achievable for the Gladiators to reach Promotion. With new coaches, Burr thinks the Gladiators can really progress this year.
“Its going good, we have got a new training plan in place. We have brand new coaches, our coach now is the head coach for Bristol Aztecs which is an adult Prem ball team. He also coaches the women’s Great Britain team. He’s taken over and put a great plan in place.”
James Wilford is the man in charge of the Gladiators this year, and he has some incredible experience, ranging from CO founding the University of Northampton’s American Football team, to being DB coach for Great Britain Women’s team. Wilford’s history of coaching:
“Along with our head coach, we have more coaches from Hereford Stampede and more from Bristol Aztecs. They are coaching individual positions. It has stepped up from last year and everyone has their own individual coach, and they can go to that person if they’re struggling.”
UOG Gladiators beat the university of Worcester 20-6 in a convincing victory at Plock court In March, With Ewan Burr coming off the bench making an impact. The Gladiators also beat teams such as Plymouth and Bath Spa in their BUCS season, however they narrowly missed out on the play off finals losing 0-12 to Swansea.
Burr on how Gloucestershire can improve this year: “We are showing up to training every week, getting into the gym and watching film as much as we can. We beat them last year at Varsity. We cannot hold that against them as it’s a new season, Its looking good.”
“We’re in the classroom whenever we can be, going over plays. We have the film from Worcester now who are our first game of the season and our biggest rivals. So we’ll be studying their plays and hopefully be putting the points on the board.”
He said: “I came to Uni with no interest in American Football. Last year they had loads of players getting injured and they sent out a message, I thought its an opportunity to try a new Sport and why not. I got stuck in and had a great first game with the team. That was the playoff game. I Enjoyed it and stuck with it. Every Sunday we get together at a place in Cheltenham to watch some American Football, have some dinner and bond. We are always there for each other.”
The main aim this year is to win the plays offs and go for promotion. With the coaching team in place, the Gladiators should have all of the tools to right the wrongs from last year. “We are going to make it to the play offs, win, and hopefully get promoted.”
