If you build it, they will come.

That was the motto used five years ago when the fledgling Montreal footy club was desperate to get visiting teams into town and build a unique 9-a-side event that put the spotlight on rookie Aussie Rules players.

Armed with the lure of a European-style city like no other in North America, for the very first time some applications for the 2013 tournament had to be refused as the tournament’s 4 women’s and 8 men’s slots filled in record time. Teams from New York, Ottawa, Boston, Baltimore and Halifax all committing to take on Montreal’s spread of home teams in the AFL Quebec Preseason Cup. An estimated 150+ players will be on hand for what will be Quebec footy’s finest hour.

Coach Leigh Barnes has announced that the USA Freedom will be holding a training camp from May 31 to June 2 in the San Francisco Bay area, in preparation for this year’s Parallel Cup, which will be held in Edmonton, Alberta, on August 3.

As well as existing squad members, the camp is also open to new players, and women from across the USA have been encouraged to attend. The coaches have indicated that the camp will consist of a mixture of football training, team building exercises and special events.

At the end of the weekend, the coaching staff will select a senior squad and a development squad to take to Canada. In addition, Barnes also hinted that they would be using the opportunity to look for potential representatives in advance of next year’s International Cup.

The 2nd official AFL US Combine been completed in Los Angeles. Three athletes, David Grzesiak (pictured below)  from the University of Wisconsin, Matt Sauey from the University of North Florida, and Cliff Ederine from the University of Eastern Washington, broke the standing vertical jump record of 85cm with 86cm leaps to become the best ever performers in 18 years of testing.

As we mentioned last year these athletes are much older than the athletes usually tested at AFL Combines. The overall performances of the group really impressed the six AFL club representatives in attendance.

The full list of athletes to be tested at the AFL Combine starting in LA today can be seen below.

Illinois basketballer Sam McLaurin has some impressive highlights (seen in the video reel below) both at his former college team Coastal Carolina and his current Illinois Fighting Illini team.  Standing at 203cms the 23 year old is a potential AFL ruckman and will be put through his paces in LA from April 14-16 in the second official US Combine.

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The Gold Coast SUNS will provide Queensland sports fans with an access all areas pass to the Club this weekend, when a special covering the teams recent high performance altitude training camp in Arizona airs on 7mate. Viewers in the rest of Australia and overseas will also be able to watch the doco on the Club's YouTube channel.

From trekking through the Grand Canyon, to navigating the red rock formations of Sedona on Mountain-Bikes and scaling the icy slopes of Mount Humphrey's, the SUNS TV cameras captured every second of the fourteen day camp, documenting the intensive and challenging program set by newly recruited high performance manager Stephen Schwerdt and the GC SUNS coaching staff.

From personal achievements and setbacks to team activities, nothing is off limits during the thirty minute special which highlights the dedication and sacrifice required to play AFL at an elite level, whilst also highlighting the advances the GC SUNS have made as the playing group prepares for their third season in the AFL.

The USAFL have launched a new advertising campaign to promote the game and recruit players to their competition. The 30-second clip will run twice during the broadcast of AFL matches on the Fox Soccer PLUS each week as well as other times during the match day.

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The second official AFL USA combine will be moved up to April this year. Last year's combine in LA took place at the end of August and left a short space of time between the combine and the time for the graduates of the combine to come to the Australian national combine held in Melbourne in the first week of October. This year's earlier time will allow those given the opportunity to come to Australia in October to brush up on the game and their skills.

As usual the international athletes are available for clubs to sign up on an international scholarship immediately rather than wait until the athlete goes throught the Australian combine if they like what they see in April. As with last year there is expected to be college athletes (and recently graduated) from baskeball, gridiron and soccer put through their paces in LA once again.

Former Seattle University basketballer Eric Wallace was the ultimate success story of last year's combine being given an International rookie spot with North Melbourne. Wallace features in this year's updated recruitment video on Youtube that can be seen below. While most of the promo is the same content as last year Wallace has replace the delisted Shae McNamara as the US face of the combine video.

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We have had a number of articles on the progress of football in Canada - covering Mike Pyke, the OAFL, the EAFL, the NWPAFL, the NDJAFL and junior football.

Now it is time take a snapshot of women’s footy in Western Canada and specifically Calgary. The west is arguably the centre for women’s football in Canada with the Calgary Kookaburras, Edmonton Emus and the Vancouver Wildcats supplying just over half the players for the Northern Lights, the Canadian national women’s team.

Fledgling USAFL club, the Cleveland Cannons have released a promo video as they head into the 2013 season.  You can watch the Youtube video below and you can hookup with the club on Facebook here. 

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