American football: Revolution looking to build on their best season ever

The current off-season has seen the side keen to bolster their ranks after a ‘very humbling’ play-off experience against Scunthorpe Alphas, according to new head coach Alasdair Jarvis. 

Chairman and defensive co-ordinator Dan Hulme is keen for anyone who is interested to have a go, saying ‘everybody is welcome at every level’, and Jarvis is living proof of that, saying: “If you’d have told 15-year-old me back then that one day I would be the coach, I think I would have fainted with anxiety. 

“But as I grew and matured, and really learn more about the sport and cut my teeth, it became a natural leadership role.” 

Having been promoted to head coach role over the winter, Jarvis has been keen to build on last season’s success, as the club recently announced new assistant coach Darren Edwards. 

“Last season was good," added Jarvis. "We finished with five wins, three losses, which was good enough to secure second place in our division.  

“The Nottingham Caesars walked the league, so they were eight and zero. 

“We had some really good battles with the likes of the Northants Knights and Birmingham Bulls, but you know we edged all of those.  

“We were basically finished tied with Northampton and we won it on points differential. So, we went to the play-offs and then we had a very humbling experience to Scunthorpe, who are a real quality team. 

“We made the play-offs, but we bowed out in the first game, but that in itself constitutes the most successful season that the club has had. 

“One time prior in 2019, I think it was, we reached the same point in the play-offs, but with a lesser record and so, statistically, it was our best season.” 

Hulme said: “It's not like a big city or some of the other teams around that have also had big universities associated to them, a lot of people are local. We don't have people travelling too far from us, maybe like Wolverhampton, or there's a couple from Stoke. 

“We try to build this community vibe, always. We’ll try and get events to go on, we go out for meals, or we go out for drinks together.  

“There's a coaching structure for the adult team and for the youth team, and then there's BAFA, the organisation. There're the qualifications after we do. But the sport, no matter which team, is open to everyone, because then that's our job as coaches. 

"To make sure that these players learn how to play, they find it fun, they're safe and we sort of teach them to not have the expectations that they're going to come in and all of them are coming straight away and being a Division One starter.  

“But we'll help you get there. We’ll help you learn those skills.”