On Presidents Day weekend here in the USA (17 February), I had the distinct opportunity to interview the first American female President of an USAFL club, the Boston Demons Andrea “Andi” Williams.  In the following interview, we discuss the road to becoming an trailblazer and pioneer, what drives her and talk about the US Revolution and Freedom teams as well as the 2014 season for the Demons.

Alex Benjamin: First of all, congratulations. Accordingly to my good friend and historian, Lisa Albergo, this is not only you being the first female president of a USAFL Eastern Regional team, but the first American female in USAFL history.

Andrea Williams:  Thank you very much. I am honored to have been elected to this position and excited to lead the Demons this season.

We welcome Alex as our first dedicated US reporter for some years to WFN.   Alex is a long time servant of the Nashville Kangaroos and in 2014 begins his 10th season as goal umpire including numerous matches officiating at the US National Championships.  2014 is also his 6th season as host of "USAFL Weekly" live webcast which can be seen on Ustream and the 5th season of his footy blog . 

Recently a number of the USAFL teams gathered for the traditional Australia Day Weekend to celebrate with our Aussie mates.  While some teams gathered at several local establishments for purely social events (the New York Magpies, Boston Demons and Tulsa Buffaloes, among others), other teams took to the streets and the fields for fun. 

Four of the teams, the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids, the Sacramento Suns, Golden Gate Roos and Nashville Kangaroos went for their first games of the year in Metro competition and in the case of the Sacramento Suns and Golden Gate Roos, it was history in the making as well.  

St Kilda flies home from Colorado today after an extensive two-week high altitude training camp in Boulder.

The Saints trained at University of Colorado’s elite training facilities, while also embarking on several demanding hikes throughout the scenic yet challenging Colorado mountains.

St Kilda high performance manager Adam Basil set the squad a number of difficult challenges that they relished and completed despite being subjected to weather as cold as -20 degrees celcius.

Stateside Footy presents coverage of the USAFL women's footy with Minnesota vs Boston and then Minnesota vs New York . These games took place at Rogers Field on the site of the former Fort Devens in Harvard, MA in July this year.

Stateside Footy is a cable access TV show produced with the assistance of WCTV - Wilmington Community Television in Wilmington, MA. It features Aussie Rules Football as it is played in the U.S.A.

Stateside Footy's Bill Robert is well known as a big Geelong fan. Possibly lesser known is the mayor of Beverley Hills - John Mirisch. You can read the article on John on the AFL website here.

Alex Starling was awarded an international scholarship with the Sydney Swans after the first unofficial US Combine in 2011. He was to continue his studies and basketball at a US college and return to the Swans at the end of 2012.  He also played a handful of games with the Florida Redbacks in the USAFL.

Unfortunately though injury meant he was unable to come to Sydney to fulfil his AFL destiny with the Swans. Starling left the radar, and the Sydney Swans did not respond to questions as to whether there was any chance he would get another chance with them after saying they would not list him as an International rookie at the end of 2012.

But he has now popped up in yesterday's Leader community paper having signed with AFL club Frankston.  Coach Simon Goosey has been in contact with Paul Roos who first found Starling at the US combine and set him up with the Swans and told Goosey that Starling was "one of the best athletes he's ever seen" . 

Following on from his interview with Denis Ryan, Jason Lassey of Bigfooty Media interviews the Al MacGlashan from the Chicago Swans and co-coach of the Austin Crow's Simon Boyce.

Jason Lassey of Bigfooty Media interviews the USAFL's new President Denis Ryan.

The Calgary Kangaroos have wrapped up their 2013 season almost snatching the US National championship title along the way (going down to the Austin Crows by one point).  The following video contains some captured highlights of their season.

Checkout this highlights package from the Ottawa Swans 2013 season with the men's and women's teams in action.

Jason Lassey of Bigfooty Media interviews AFL Canada's Bruce Parker about the how the game is played in Canada.