The Friday before the US Nationals for most of the 1500 competitors is a travel day. Arriving to San Diego by whatever means necessary they descend on the tournament hotels and register.

But a decent size group are already on the ground. A mixture of administrators, coaches and some early arrivals.

The Administrators conference ran throughout the Friday with various presentations by clubs discussing how they do things at their footy club and sharing ideas and experiences that can help others. The session was chaired by outgoing President Mike Shepherd.

The 2017 USAFL National Championships will be held in San Diego this weekend.  This is the first time San Diego has hosted the tournament and the first time in many years the tournament has been held on the west coast.  Matches will be played throughout the day on Saturday (21st) and Sunday(22nd), but the official proceedings include Friday where a club administrators forum will run through that day and also coaching, umpiring and women's footy clinics will be held ahead of the official registration and welcome on the Friday night.

The match venue is Surf Cup Sports Park, 3885 Via De La Valle,  Del Mar, CA 92014.  The venue will be hosting seven divisions (combined men's and women's) with

This year's tournament will be the biggest in its 21-year history:  53 teams spanning seven divisions, representing nearly forty clubs across the USA and Canada.

While Myk Aussie's countrymen back in South Australia are sleeping, the Canadian based expat is out doing his bit to promote the Aussie football code across North America. 

Appearing on the Fantasy Sports cable TV Network with host Gabriel Morency this week, Myk previews the 2017 AFL Grand Final featuring his beloved Adelaide Crows playing the Richmond Tigers.

You can watch him on the clip below.

[youtube:qgK8kydLPR8]

 

Thanks to Baltimore-Washington Eagles for the following match write ups by "Eagles" - the original can be found here.  (Looking forward to the Sep 23rd BWE vs NY match - Ed.)

WASHINGTON, DC – Over 100 Washingtonians came out to see the Baltimore-Washington Eagles men’s and women’s teams at Anacostia Park on Saturday, as they played host to the Boston Demons and North Carolina Tigers.

It was a sunny day of Australian football in the nation’s capital, with canopies and picnic blankets decorating the boundary line, and the BBQ grilling all day as spectators watched the Eagles men’s and women’s teams compete in the first USAFL games held in DC this year.

Mason Cox will remain a Magpie after signing a three-year contract extension with the club which brought him from the United States to Australia.

The 211cm American first began honing his AFL skills at Collingwood as a Category B international rookie in 2014 playing in the VFL.

Since, the Dallas native has played 20 AFL games – including nine as a key forward and ruckman in 2017.

Speculation in recent weeks around his contract had seen him linked to Hawthorn, Richmond and Brisbane as possible destinations for the American.

So many times the dream and our reality are vastly different. It is certainly true in Tyler Ames’ case, but his current reality is somewhat of a dream, and it certainly doesn’t resemble what he saw for himself.

Tyler went to college in the US as many of us do. He figured he’d become a businessman and have the American dream - a wife he loved, two kids, two cars, and such. He settled on accounting and finance at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and landed a job.

One day he became good friends with Michio McGrath, an Australian expat who persuaded him to try his hand at footy. Ironically, it was Tyler who helped recruit Michio to his accounting firm. McGrath in turn spent an entire Colorado winter selling Tyler on the game as well as on his favorite club the West Coast Eagles.

The annual Kelowna Cup  gets a little better each year.

We start with a report from Dan of the Calgary Kangaroos on this year’s event.

“On the men's side of the draw, the combined Edmonton/Vernon team took out the club competition, overcoming Calgary in the decider (5.6.36 v 3.8.26). The British Columbians won the Canadians only game over Alberta (9.4.58 v 3.6.24).

On the women's side of the draw, the combined Calgary/Edmonton team won the team competition against the combined Vancouver Vixens/Wildcats team (12.5.76 V 1.0.6). Alberta won the provincial game over BC (no score recorded).

 

Brianna Davey, one of Carlton’s marquee players in the AFLW, has agreed to become the International Ambassador for the North Delta Junior AFL in southern Vancouver, within British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province.

The 22-year old Carlton star was vice captain for the 2017 season and took out the club’s inaugural best & fairest award. Additionally, Brianna received All Australian honours as well as a number of media awards

President of the NDJAFL, Mike McFarlane, stated that “we are pleased to have Brianna join our league as the International Ambassador. It brings another level to our league and gives our kids more exposure to quality football people as Brianna is one of the top women's players in Australia.”