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American football players from Wrocław
More than two years ago they call together through the Internet to play American footbal. On Saturday this amateur team will play in Europe Cup.
- We gathered on the field in our housing estate, snow, mud, and we, dressed in tracksuits and jeans – that is how Mikołaj Szczepański, the linebacker, recalled November 2005. They were dreaming about fame and earning a lot of money, but truly they had to run a losing sport.
Today they are training under American Mark Grocholski, who was dealing with American football in USA and Europe for more than 25 years
On Saturday, as first Polish team in history, they will play in Europe Cup. – We were really lucky – that is how Marcin Wyszkowski, the chairman of the club explaining the instant development of the team. – We were not even dreaming, that we could get help for free from a man, who has succeeded in University league in USA and Germany, where in 1999 he was recognized as the best coach of defence in Europe.
Mark Grocholski, for two weeks has been preparing them to a game with Praha Panthers. Information about Wroclaw inhabitants, he had found in the internet. – They can gain a lot – he said. – This sport is developing in Poland immediately. In two years time we gain as much as the team in Bundesliga gained in five years.
When in Autumn 2006 Polish league got of the ground, in second season they won a championship in Poland. That is when they were spotted by the authorities in Wroclaw. The football palyers are on the list of Youth Centres of Sport (Młodzieżowe Centra Sportu). They are paying for the training not 200PLN but only 20PLN, and they will play a cup matchs for free. The leaflets with rules of this game, which are going to be distributed to the supporters, they printed by themselves.
