Bristol Baptism for Olympians (50-0) - Sunday 7th May 2006
A long trip on an overcast day to a Bristol Aztecs team looking for some kind of payback for their week 1 defeat at the hands of 2005 runners up the Knights was probably not the ideal first game for a notoriously slow starting organization with a largely untested team. However as reigning British Champion the Olympians just got on with the job at hand with the people they had with a surprising degree of success.

Rookies Impress Olympians
In the past the London Olympians had an undeserved reputation of being a closed shop… This is strange, as every player that has ever put in 100%, from complete rookie to seasoned veteran changing teams has been convinced it was the best move they ever made.

Now wait! I don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression, it’s not easy to earn a starting spot on the best team in the UK over the last decade, but many players have done it in 2005 we had 13 players on our squad that contributed in the British championship winning season including ‘BritBowl 2005’ MVP winning Jermaine Allen in his first senior season he earned a starting spot and remained out No.1 running back throughout the season, catching the eye of NFLE scouts along the way, Jermaine is now on the books of the Hamburg Bluedevils in his first season as a professional player, and is impressing everybody...

The Olympians have had such great success with college players over the last few years with over 11 players starting in the majority of games in the 2005 season. By recruiting players from surrounding colleges we hope that we are not only improving the Olympians squad, but also improving the level of football played in colleges by sending players back, with a better knowledge of the sport having trained with and played against some of the best athletes in the UK as well as receiving the best coaching the UK has to offer. The BCAFL season is almost over with only 8 teams left. In 2005 we had over 25 college players registered and are expecting 20 to return over the next two weeks with an additional 15 new collegiate players adding to our young ranks...

That’s Entertainment!!
Since returning to Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, the London Olympians have been looking for ways to provide an entertaining event befitting such a prestigious venue (remember we have to compete with events such as ‘The Commonwealth Games’, The World Games and the British Athletics Championships). One of the ways we took steps towards this was to recruit the services of two Cheerleadering squads (1. Dance Squad 2. Stunt Squad). We are delighted to announce that both our Dance and Stunt squads ‘The Olympian Tygerz’ and ‘The London Flames’ have confirmed they will be entertaining our supporters for the 2006 season.

Olympian Tygerz
Kerry-Jane Jenkins Director of the ‘Kerry-Jane Academy of Dance’ in East-Ham coordinates the group of 30+ girls and there aren’t many in the UK better qualified. Kerry was a cheeleader with the London Monarchs for a number of years, going on to manage the Crown Jewels including on a road trip of the UK to promote the Monarchs games. The Tygerz were formed in 2005 and were present at all of the Olympian home games and really impressed all who were present the girls range between the ages of 14 and 30 years old and come from a mix of different backgrounds and are taught a variety of dance disciplines at the Kerry-Jane Academy. (Check www.olympiansfootball.org over the next 2 weeks for more information)

London Flames
Samantha Bond is Head-Cheergirl for the Sirens, cheering for British Collegiate American Football League team, the Hertfordshire Hurricanes. Sam also cheers for Great Britain Bulldogs cheerleading squad and has performed on both sides of the Atlantic. Sam, has been working hard to put together a squad for the Olympians over the last 2 years, recruiting girls from the Sirens and other universities, who live close to London in the summer holidays. Last season the Flames managed to represent the Olympians in a number of home games with 10 girls and at the British American Football League Div 1 Championship in Sheffields Don Valley Stadium. This year Sam is hoping to put a squad of 20 girls performing daring choreographered stunts and acrobats. The Flames are recruiting and would welcome anyone who has any experience in dance or gymnastics that would like to entertain the Olympians crowds and potentially compete in cheerleading competitions, whether you are a student or not.