Scholarship Winners Announced

The USAFL is delighted to announce the winners of our Scholarships. Daniel Harrison of the Florida Redbacks has been selected for the Macquarie Scholarship, and Rob Lutostanski of the Arizona Hawks is the winner of our AFL scholarship.  Congratulations, Danny and Rob – we know you will represent the USAFL well and are sure your time in Australia will be an exciting and demanding one.

We asked Rob and Danny to put down their thoughts on being selected.  Here is their response:

‘When I opened the e-mail that notified me of my winning the scholarship, my initial response was that of profound excitement. I mean honestly, what footy player wouldn't want to go to Australia to play? Plus, to continue my studies abroad at an educational institution such as Macquarie, wow, it's just so much in one great opportunity. I’m not really sure what to expect of the football at Macquarie, but what I do know is that I’m going to play my heart out to prove myself worthy. I’d like to thank all of those at USFooty who chose me to represent USAFL. I plan on continuing this new tradition by representing USAFL well in Australia and playing some rough, hard football!’

Daniel Harrison
Florida Redbacks

‘First I need to thank all my team-mates, friends and coaches past and present in AZ who helped me get to the level I’m at..."thanks little buddies" - without you guys I'm just a scrub.  As for this upcoming year I plan on finally graduating from Arizona State University with a biology degree - when you walk around a campus and you have 20 different teachers calling you out by first name you realize its time.  This scholarship might possibly set me back a semester at school but how often does an opportunity like this come around?  You’re only young once, right?  I really don't know what to expect when going to Australia to practice with the pro's...It's pretty crazy to even think about.  All I know is that I will train as hard as I can leading up to this and if I can gain any experience to help my Arizona Hawks team out in any way I will do it.  The Arizona Hawks and I have some unfinished business we plan on taking care of this upcoming year at Nationals, wherever they may be.  My last trip to Australia was for the International Cup when I had friends on the team and everything went well. This time and for the first time ever, I'm all alone and bound to learn something new about myself...hopefully great things. But the bottom line above all is to go out and represent the U.S. in the highest manner, gain positive publicity for USFooty, become famous so I can date a beautiful Aussie woman (just kidding) and disappoint no one.  Thank you for selecting me.

Rob Luto (Lutostanski)
Captain Arizona Hawks’

We look forward to reading your exploits on the USFooty web site.

Jim Martin
Chairman
Selection Committee 

- Jim Martin
(602)