2007 Nationals Kicks Off

The 2007 Nationals have kicked off in Louisville, Kentucky today with the Administrators conference at the Brownsboro Hotel.  Over 30 participants are in attendance, collaborating on footy in the US.  Topics thus far have been umpiring, regional discussions and a presentation by Western Australian Country Footy General Manager Cameron Knapton and the opportunities for exchanges between Australia and the US and vice versa.  This will be a great addition to the scholarships already available.

New field in Fort Lauderdale:
Josh Goodstein from the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids also presented on the near completion of a great new stadium in Fort Lauderdale.  I've posted some pictures below. I believe the stadium opens in December and the first tournament is slated for Spring 2008 - more info at www.fightingsquids.com - here are some of the stats:

• Seating for 25,000 (5,000 covered)
  
• Private suites and announcement facilities
  
• Fully lit oval.
  
• 2 full size lighted ovals (Non Stadium).
  
• Main stadium oval measures over 170M circle.
  
• ICC sanctioned facility.
  
• Wired for TV broadcast.
  
• Digital scoreboards and the newest in announcement and broadcast technologies.
  
• Full service concessions
  
• Will play host to international and local Aussie Rules events as early as 2008-2009

Womens Footy:
There was also a presentation on the growth of womesn footy in the US over the past couple of years and how clubs without womens teams should start looking at starting a womens side.  The point that Wayne Kraska's presentation put across was pretty compelling as to the advantages of having a womens side a part of your club.  This year at the Nationals the Atlanta Kookaburras will have a husband and wife playing in their respective gender sides which is a first for footy in the US.

AusBall/AussieBall:
The Denver Bulldogs and Baltimore Washington Eagles ran very successful modified rules co-ed football this year.  Tom Ellis from Denver presented on how successful it was at Denver with 60 players participating at $40 per player.  The rules are modified with no contact allowed and at least 3 females per team of 9.  The follow on effect has been evident too with women being hooked enough to start their own fully-fleged side.

Coaching:
Matt Dainauski Coaching Director spoke about the development of our coaches in the US.  Looks like he'll be working hard in the next 12 months to assist coaches in becoming accredited and developing their skillsets.  Matt's targeting the spring to have a decent amount of documentation up on usfooty.com in the coaching section.  Matt is also looking for help on the content side of things - you can email him at coachingdirector@usfooty.com.

USFootyTravel.com
Christopher Doerfler presented on the success of the usfootytravel.com website which was launched at the 2006 Nationals.  Christopher started his presentation by handing commission checks to 4 clubs that earnt money over the last year.  Plugger spoke about the need for clubs to support the program better for the upcoming year.  If you're a club webmaster and want more information you can contact him at christopherdoerfler@hotmail.com.

Armed Forces
David Payne spoke about footy in the armed forces and the opportunity to grow footy in that area.

Tracking of Injuries:
Starting from next year USFooty will start to track injuries sustained on the footy field by each club.  The data will be collected through the existing clubweb interface and allow usfooty to promote the sport more easily amongst groups that feel the sport is rough and dangerous.

50/50 Rule and Player Points Requirement:
The 50/50 rule was discussed along with the current points system implemented for the Nationals (each player must have 3 points accrued throughout the year to play at Nationals).  There was a lot of discussion and the board will be looking at the current 3 point rule in the coming months.

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