Kent Exiles Players Selected for GB Junior Lions
Kent Exiles Players Selected for GB Junior Lions as Performance and Development squads are announced
Head Coach Neale McMaster has unveiled the squads for the new Great Britain Junior Lions
Over 380 players tried out, as well as players who had been scouted throughout the course of the 2019 season. At the end of the trials Coach McMaster and his staff selected the best players across all positions and age groups.
On the selections, Coach McMaster said: “It’s always an exciting time when we get to see the best players across the UK and make our selections. It’s an incredibly difficult process for coaches, as it is and always will be incredibly subjective based on our team needs, and we always see the potential in players, so it’s difficult to make the cuts. We’re excited with the players we have in our Performance squad, and their ability to compete quickly, and our development players are the future of the programme, and some of the potential in that group is absolutely frightening!”
Explaining a bit more about the process, McMaster said: “Our Performance squad is essentially our Under 19 squad – it’s the team that will play games and compete in IFAF competitions. Our Development squad is set up to ensure that we close the gap as much as possible between 5v5 domestic league and 11v11 international competition. If we can keep players in that programme for a year or two before they graduate up, that experience and exposure to 11v11 football will start to see a big turnaround in the Performance squad’s ability to compete on the European and hopefully world stage.”
The squads will meet for a first practice at Telford College on 30 November for the Performance Squad and 1 December for the Development Squad.
A huge congratulations to the Kent Exiles players selected for the Great Britain Lions Junior Squad; they are:
Performance Squad: George Reynolds, Leonardo Walter-Dabo, George Fear and Kareem Akarakiri
Development Squad: Bailey Man, Kevin DeMenezes, Callum Boden, Akeem Livermore and Kayode Oteh