Saturday 24th January 2009 saw the Great Britain Lions National squad take another significant step towards the 2010 European Championships, with a well attended Trial Day at Loughborough University.

Following the epic 13-6 victory in France in November 2007, the programme has not stood still in its quest to improve the quality of the national team.

135 players presented themselves for testing and analysis over the course of a two-part day. This included a number of established veteran faces from Britball, some young talent from both the British American Football League (BAFL) and the British University American Football League (BUAFL), and several players who have been involved in the NFL International Player Development Programme.

In the Orientation Meeting lead by Head Coach Riq Ayub, the participants were made aware of what the coaches were looking for, and the attributes it takes to Be A LION. Following this, the first practical session of the day involved a warm up (led by Lions trainer Melina Healey), and was followed by the player being split into positional groups and undergoing a number of NFL-style combine tests and some Football-related skills. There was a fantastic level of effort displayed by all participants and some impressive scores posted in the measurables.

The quickest 40 yard time was a 4.53 sec dash posted by DB Gabriel Sey from the UWE Bullets/Bristol Aztecs. A further 49 players achieved sub-5.00 second times over the distance.

Running back Nick Tribble from the Farnham Knights pumped out a staggering 24 rep-100kg (225 lbs) Bench Press. A further 18 players achieved 10+ reps, although due to time constraints not all the players were tested.

Running back Jermaine Allen, who has spent the past two years on NFL Practice Squads (with the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears) posted the fastest time on the 20 yard shuttle drill, 4.34 seconds.

Jordan Butel, a Defensive Back from the Birmingham Lions/Birmingham Bulls, was timed at 7.10 seconds on the 3-Cone Drill, 0.19 seconds faster than the next fastest players, the Kent Exiles Wide Receiver duo of Richard McHugh and Clive Palumbo.

After this initial session, the GB Coaches were faced with the unenviable task of reducing the participants down to a more manageable number for the second session, which involved players kitting up and being put through their paces in individual, 9-on-7, and pass skeleton drills. Again, the coaches were impressed with the efforts displayed by the participants and convened to review the practice film and their observation notes over Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The players who demonstrated the attributes required to Be A Lion were then selected and will be informed whether they are invited to the next GB Camp by the end of the coming week.

This next camp is scheduled to take part at the Inverclyde Scottish National Sports Centre in Largs from 6th-8th March 2009.

Many thanks to all the support provided by Loughborough Aces Head Coach Jason Scott and his staff, the additional coaches who assisted the Lions Coaches, and also to BAFA for their continued support of the National Programme.