American football: the new cycle of the gladiators of Niort

American football: the new cycle of the gladiators of Niort

     

New season, new ambitions. The Gladiators Club of Niort, created in 2017, continues to structure itself. From January 2021, the pennant team will play in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional football championship, and no longer depend on the amateur federation (LNFAA). On Monday, the players returned to training after six months of forced hiatus and were able to meet their new coach, Sébastien Zehoual, and listen to the words of the new president, Amaury Debriat.

Resumption of the championship in January

In US football, the schedule does not keep up with the pace we know. The championship starts at the start of the year. The Gladiators should therefore play their first official game in January, and thus have four months to prepare for a very different year from previous ones. “It will be a transition season. We go to regional, from nine to eleven players in the field, details Amaury Debriat. There are new phases of the game, which do not exist at the amateur level. It makes new things to explain, to record, and to set up even for the players who have been there from the start. "However, the club is keen to be" sportingly competitive ". This is why Sébastien Zehoual joined the Gladiators as an experienced coach, “he has to give us a lot, he has coached at higher levels. We're lucky to have it, ”says the president.

And from his first speech, the former coach of the Angoulême American Football Marauders and the Poitiers American Football Dragons showed clear ambitions. "The goal is to reach the next level, not to get stuck in the regional and manage to play in the national," claims the technician. And for that, I encourage you to work outside of training, go for a run, do weight training, as much as possible and on your schedule. But that's how we're going to get there! "

Currently, the French American Football Federation does not allow meetings between two associations. No club may play friendly matches. “The situation should change, the FFFA and the league are looking to organize matches. Otherwise we will make oppositions between us, ”warns Sébastien Zehoual. In the league, the Gladiators of Niort will rub shoulders with Poitiers, Angoulême, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Limoges.