A lot of you have been asking about starting training; as it turns out, 3 of our team (Justin Peel, Ryan Kastl and Jeff Purcell)  are headed to Austin, Texas in late February for a US Revolution tryout and it would be great for them (and everyone else) to have a couple of light runs beforehand.

We just got notice that we are authorized to use the Magnusson Park Rugby field - it's the all-weather field we trained at last year, field #5. (enter off NE 74th Street) We have use of the field on the following dates:

Sunday Jan 31 (this Sunday) from 2-4pm
Saturday  Feb 6th 2-4pm
Saturday Feb 20th 9:45am  - 11:45 am

All newcomers are welcome, this will be a light run only and a good chance to get the basics.
 
A reminder that Magnusson has fairly strict rules about what you can bring; water only and you can't bring pets to the field.

Full season schedule is in progress - stay tuned for more info.

See you Sunday,
Andrew

On November 7th, 2009 the Grizzlies faithful gathered at the Kangaroo & Kiwi's lavish lower ballroom to see who would take out the 2009 Jim "Trenerry" Best and Fairest award which is arguably the Pacific Northwests highest amatuer sports honor.

With new blood (Thanks Ed) taking charge on the always well received powerpoint presentation it was certainly a night to remember with some amusing awards along the way.

The evening kicked off with a year in review.  A total of 49 players wore the Grizzlies jumper for 2009 for at least one game with 9 rookies being added to our list.  After taking out the National Championship Division 2 title in 2008, we made the jump to Division 1 for 2009 and in the process had 7 new players on the squad for 2009 anf inished runners up to Denver in the Divison 1 National Championship game.  2009 was our biggest year of footy ever with 22 games being played (12 Interclub and 10 MetroFooty).

The first award of the night saw a brand new award given out - the "Johnny Fun-Pants Award" which although up against some stiff competition went to Johnny "Fun-Pants" McGinnity (pictured below).  John was also a joint winner of the Coaches/Captains Award for 2009.

John "Fun-Pants" McGinnity with his newly embroided fun pants and his Coaches/Captains award.

The next award was for the Rookie of the Year, which was taken out by Greg Such who had a great first season and also brought post match beer from his Polish homeland.

Greg Such with his Rookie of the Year award.

In a tough new category of "Comeback of the Year", Chris Richmond managed to take out the award dubbed the "Rich Man" award after battling gout during the year and managing to play on.

Richo with his "Rich Man's" Award - obviously very happy about it.

The next award was for "Most Consistent" on the field which went to a player not unfamiliar with awards of the years, Jeff Purcell.  Jeff was absent from the gala event so we do not have a photo of him accepting his prized trophy.

Even though he went out early in the season with an achilles injury, Eric Butler managed to take out the Clubman of the Year award.

After our biggest season ever of MetroFooty with 10 total games being played, there was certainly a lot of competition for the MetroFooty MVP which in the end went to Adam "Stinger" Cannane.

The Most Improved Award for 2009 went to Aran Parker who played great all season across the back line in our Interclub and MetroFooty matches.

Aran Parker with his Most Improved trophy.

In the next award of the evening Ed Fayette took out the Best Defender award after also having a great season in the back line.

Ed Fayette with his Best Defender award.

The Goal Kicking award was up next and for the 3rd season in a row it was taken out by the Grizzlies co-captain, Josh Anfinson.

Josh Anfinson with his 3rd Grizzlies Goal Kicking Award.

One of the most important awards from the standpoint of how we did at the National Championships in 2009 was awarded to Damon Wills after playing an amazing game at Nationals in a tagging role, holding his very experienced Australian opposition to only a few touches.

Damon Wills with his Best Game at Nationals Award.

Keeping to the Nationals theme, the next award was for the best player overall at Nationals.  Accepting his second award of the evening was Adam Cannane who despite dislocating his shoulder in one of the games at Nationals, played on and helped to inspire the team.

The Coaches/Captains award for 2009 was split for the first time in Grizzlies history with Dan Choate and John McGinnity jointly taking out the award.

Dan Choate with his Captains/Coaches Award.

The final award for the evening was the 2009 Jim Trennery Best & Fairest award.  After taking out both the MetroFooty MVP award and the Nationals MVP award, the deserving Adam Cannane made it three awards for the night.  "Stinger" had a great season on the field while also helping to take the club to the next level with it's young new American recruits.

2009 Jim Trenerry Best & Fairest winner Adam "Stinger" Cannane, also with his MetroFooty MVP trophy and Nationals MVP trophy.

With the official awards over with, the speeches turned to thanking our great sponsors the Kangaroo & Kiwi Pub and Vitamin Water.  Zach Johns also spoke about his upcoming trip (on November 9th) to Australia where he'll be pre-season training with the Claremont Tigers.

Finishing off the awards night, the Grizzlies awarded Walter Buck with a Life Memberhship award.  Walter has played for the Grizzlies for over 10 years and has decided to retire and hang up the boots.  Coach Donlen thanked him for his commitment over the years.  The Grizzlies certainly hope that we will continue to see Walter around the club.

Walter Buck with his Life Membership Award.

All award winners from the night.

You can see all the above photos and more in our Photos page.

Zach Johns was recently interviewed by Chris Adams from usfootynews.com.  You can read the article here.

Hello friends and family,

So I'm on about week 3 here in Australia.  I've been in Perth for about 2.5 weeks.  Things are well.  Training started last Saturday with fitness tests.  I lost my stomach on the 2 k during and after trying to stay in the pack which i accomplished.  The 2 k was the last thing we did on the day followed by pull ups, bench press, and squats which i did ok on.  I should be able to shed 30 seconds on my next timed 2 k considering I've ran or sprinted about 5 of them this week.

So I will be training 3 days a week until a few days before Christmas (we have 2 weeks off over the holiday).  Following the break we will pick up with 3 trainings a week through January.  I believe at this time, if need be, there may be a few cuts from the team.  I believe there are somewhere between 70 guys at this point and a few will fade out over the course of preseason.  The 2 team squad (reserves and league) will carry about 50 to 55. 

As for my chances I look ok physically and strength wise, but fitness is weak at the moment.  My long kick is good, but my short kicks and kicks under fatigue need some work.  I am confident these things will come around quickly.  I have a more fundamentally sound kick now with a one handed release and guide and a more proper hold on the ball.  Without politics or defects of character getting in the way, not that there has been any, I should make the team.

The guys and coaches on the team have been sincerely welcoming and helpful.  Good blokes...

Perth is hot.   I'm heading to the beach for a run and swim in a few.  I'm all about this sort of climate.

The Western Australian newspaper did a story on me and a couple of other guys - you can read it here:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/wafl/6527075/change-of-scenery-for-aspiring-wafl-trio/

Attached are a few pics and also a story from the Western Australian newspaper about me and 2 other guys trying out for the Claremont squad.  The article is a bit inaccurate when it says I played football for U of O.  I actually was an unrecruited walk-on as a freshmen.  Its a bit of a story, but I wasn't ready to play at that level as an 18 yr old.  But I was recruited from little La Conner which is pretty cool and was on the team for about a month.  I later played football in Santa Barbara and a season of baseball at Skagit valley CC prior to that (baseball is weak).

Also when the article talks about me not knowing footy existed it should be noted that i didn't know it was being played in the US until Jack Thompson let me know about it a few years ago.  But whatever, the interview was over the phone and he asked a bunch of questions.  He also asked if i was going to make the team.  He was hoping for a cocky American answer as he asked twice, but i didn't give him one. 

So enjoy your holidays and I will send you another update sometime.

One more thing... I was set up with a job down at the Fremantle docks which is the main Port for Perth and all of Western Australia.  My job is manually unloading containers.  I've only worked 3 days, but have unloaded a container of olive oil, diapers, wine, and several containers of imported beer.  Mindless but i get paid by the container and it has worked out to about 25 bucks and hour.  Not bad and I can work a few hours or a full day (by doing 2 or 3 containers).  They take about 2 hours with 2 guys....

Cheers,
Zach