American Footy Star Article

The AFL and a top Australian sports agent have embarked on an ambitious plan to find young American athletes capable of playing in the AFL.

The first of a series of trials in the US will be held in Dallas in August, with organisers hoping 5000 Americans will show up for a shot at an AFL career.

Most of the 300,000 young athletes playing basketball, American football and other sports at the top collegiate level fail to make it into the millionaire professional leagues of the National Basketball Association and the National Football League and it is this large pool of leftover athletes the AFL and sports agent Miro Gladovic will tap into.

There are also thousands of US high school athletes who do not go to college.

''There's guys like (NBA star) LeBron James out there, but they don't make it to the professional ranks for whatever reason,'' Gladovic, a Melbourne-born agent who represented Australian soccer players in Europe, said at a launch party held in Los Angeles on Saturday.

''I want to find these guys, put my agent's cap on and bring them out to Australia.''

Article from theage.com.au to see article go to: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/hunt-for-us-footy-recruits-2010050...