Welcome to our new Executive Board Members

We are delighted to have two new faces on the USAFL Executive Board - Leigh Barnes and James Waddell.  Leigh takes on the Vice President - West position and James is our new Member at Large.  James takes that position from Richard Mann who is now our President, having taking over from Rob Oliver.  Our thanks to Rob and Tom Ellis (who stepped down as the Vice President - West); we are appreciative of all the work you have done and dedication you have shown over many years to help grow USFooty.

Leigh Barnes
Vice President - West

Leigh is 48yrs old and is a Materials and Research Engineer.

He was born in Launceston, Tasmania and also lived for 15 years in Brisbane. Leigh moved to San Francisco in 1997 where he lives with Cathrina and son Kai (10).

Leigh is the founding President of the GGAFL, Div 2 champions in 2005 and has played over 400 games of Football. He represented Tasmania 3 times, Queensland once, and kicked over a hundred goals in a season twice in his career.

James Waddell
Member at Large

James is the Membership Manager for the Downtown Denver Partnership. He is also President and veteran half-forward flanker of the Denver Bulldogs. He was a member of their 2006 runners-up team and their 2005 & 2007 championship teams.

James started playing football when he was 8 years old in Perth, Western Australia. Football and Baseball have been his passions and both sports have taken him all over Australia and now all over the world. James played WAFL with West Perth & East Perth and VFL with Williamstown. He also played National League baseball with the Perth Heat & Melbourne Monarchs and represented Australia on the National Baseball Team that went to the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992.

After retiring from football & baseball James took up coaching both sports and then became a Scout for the New York Mets. This led to travel to the US where he met his wife Amy, who is from Buffalo NY. James & Amy lived together in Melbourne for four years before moving to Denver in 2004.

-
(1030)