The following was written by Peter Schwab and comes to us courtesy of US Footy News

I have just returned from a visit to the US with my eldest son William where amongst the sites of New York, an NFL game in Philadelphia and an ice hockey match in Washington where we witnessed one of the game’s current greats Alex Ovechkin play, we also had the opportunity to assist at a local Auskick in Washington DC.

Chris is a quietly spoken man with a passion for the game and a bigger passion to introduce it to the local children. His 10 year old son CJ is also a motivating factor for Chris to keep the game as strong as he can in a foreign environment, because it allows CJ the opportunity to learn and play the game.

Plenty of AFL players have been heading to the US in the offseason with Jordan Lewis and Shane Mumford probably the highest profile as they made headlines for a nightspot punch on in LA. But far from rest and relaxation (and other not so healthy activities) are the high altitude camps undertaken by North Melbourne and Collingwood.

North Melbourne have spent the past week in Utah and are hoping to benefit from the long proven theory that training at high altitude can significantly improve fitness due to the change in the body such that more oxygen can get into the body through red blood cell level increase.

There has been a sprinkling of former AFL players who have drifted to foreign lands and played footy on foreign shores. But as far as we know Ariel Steinberg could be one of the first Australian to play in a foreign local competition prior to being drafted to an AFL club.

The 18 year old looks to be a good chance to be drafted in the 2010 AFL draft which will take place on the Gold Coast this Thursday. At the start of 2009 he moved to Edmonton with his parents on a teaching exchange, and played in his high school football team as a punter and outside linesman. But he also took advantage of keeping in touch with Aussie rules at the Edmonton Australian Rules Football Club as well as helping to coach and umpire the Edmonton Emus women's team.

The most successful Aussie Rules junior development program in North America has undertaken another community initiative. For the first time since the North Delta Junior AFL was formed in 2003 they were able to award two scholarships to graduating players who were planning on attending post secondary school. As part of their mission statement to be good citizens in the community, the British Columbia (Canada) based organisation raised funds for the scholarships.

All players who were eligible for the scholarships were asked to write a letter to the NDJAFL committee stating how footy had affected them and how they had contributed to the league and planned to give back to younger players. From these submissions the two recipients were chosen.

Toronto, CANADA (October 2, 2010): After joining the league in 2006, the Central Blues who compete in the Ontario Australian Football League (OAFL) have won the club's first OAFL Premiership in 2010. In front of a large crowd who enjoyed the OAFL beer tent and catering the Blues defeated a gutsy and determined Toronto Dingos outfit in the OAFL Grand Final played on Saturday 2 October 2010. The past three OAFL grand finals have been dominated by two clubs in the Toronto Eagles and Etobicoke Kangaroos with the Eagles winning two out of the three deciders, so it was a refreshing change to see two different clubs lining up in the biggest game of the season. The Blues, which were established by Bruce Parker and Rob Chapman in 2006 basing their club uniform on the revered Carlton Blues Football Club in the AFL, had played in the past two seasons before reaching its first grand final in 2010.

In an encouraging sign for the Blues their reserves team also featured on the big day, taking on Quebec in the Division 2 grand final.

Chris Adams from USFootyNews.com put together this video over the past weekend at the US Nationals in Louisville Kentucky featuring match footage, interviews with men's and women's team players and the New York Magpies victory celebrations.

Division I continued to be tight and close on Day 2 with the New York Magpies prevailing by 21 points in the final. The Mapgies also won Division IV, while Calgary dominated Division II and Austin's Division III title capped off a great tournament for the Texan teams. In the Women's Division the only stand alone team in Denver took out the Championship.

Division I Championship Denver Bulldogs 1.1.7 vs New York Magpies 4.4.28
Division II Championship Final: Minnesota 5.1.31 vs Calgary 11.8.74
Division III Championship Final: Florida United 2.5.17 vs Austin Crows 4.4.28
Division IV Championship Final: NY Magpies 13.4.82 vs Denver/Kansas 0.3.3
Women's Championship Final: Denver 3.1.19 vs Calgary/Montreal 2.6.18

With the temperature over 30 degrees celcius, hydration and sunblock were the buzzwords of the day. Players were thankful for the irrigation system that has been installed since the previous Nationals making the ground conditions good for footy. Sunday looks like it could be even warmer, set to reach 33 degrees celcius.

New York, Denver and Golden Gate leading the way in Division1 winning both their games. All matches appear to have been fairly close affairs with 35 points being the biggest margin.

Calgary and Dallas look to be dominating Divison 2, along with Minnesota and Chicago who are also unbeaten.

The United States Australian Football League will kick off its 2010 National Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky in the next hour with matches taking place over this weekend.

The popular event is the biggest Australian Football tournament anywhere in the world, and attracts more than 1,000 players, officials and coaching staff, with a total of 32 men’s teams spread across four divisions, as well as 6 women’s teams representing over a dozen cities across the USA and Canada. The tournament in Louisville, Kentucky will also features juniors exhibition clinics and games, Under 23 and women’s development seminars, umpires clinics, a national administrators conference and the USAFL’s Annual General Meeting.

The tournament will be held at Louisville Soccer Park (Champions Park) in Louisville, Kentucky, at 2050 RIVER RUN ROAD (just off Zorn Avenue at I-71).

The USAFL has announced seedings for the 2010 USAFL tournament to be played this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. Division 1 of the tournament is split into two groups and Chris Adams from US Footy News reviews the seasons of the teams competing in that division to give us the form of each going in.

The number one seed in Group A is the Denver Bulldogs. Denver finished the season with a record of 5-0. While they had some good wins on the road, particularly the recent tournament against Boston. Their only win against a ranked team came against Chicago United at home. That said, Denver is a 7-time National Championship winner and always brings their A-game to Nationals. In 2009 they dominated the ruck with former AFL Fremantle Docker Brendon Feddema, they were also assisted by the great work off half-back by the Championship game MVP Dom Kennedy.