Welcome to the Elite Player Program Web Site.

As you are now aware the GB Lions Senior National program was re-launched at the start of 2003.  The senior program will work closely with the youth program to provide a structured pathway for the development of players for international youth standard through to international senior standard and on to NFLE National player status.

The long-term goals for the youth, and senior National programs are the continual success of the GB Lions national teams and to do this we are initiating a new program in partnership with NFL Europe. 

The Elite Player Program.

The Elite Player Program will help to identify, develop and educate players by showing them what they need to do to reach their goal of playing for the GB Lions or NFL Europe.  To make the Elite Player Program work we would like to enlist the help of the teams to work with us to gather the information we need.  The content of the Elite Player Program will also help the individual clubs evaluate and improve their own players by measuring and improving their strength, speed and agility. This in turn will improve the team’s performance on the field.  

This is how the program would work; each club would look at their roster and nominate 12 players for inclusion in the Elite Player Program.  Of the12 players selected 4 should be linemen (2 defensive and 2 offensive) and 2 should be the players that you think are worth putting forward as candidates for NFLE national player testing.

Once we have received your completed nomination sheet (enclosed) we will start to compile the Elite Player database. Also enclosed is the Elite Player Program testing manual, this contains all the information necessary to put the players through a series of extensive tests to evaluate their strength, agility and physical condition. Also included in the manual is,

• A comparison test chart (by position) so that you can see what measurables the players should be aiming for. 
• A player information sheet. This is for the players physical measurements like height weight, waist, chest, wing span, finger span etc, also test measurable’s like 40/20 yard times, shuttle times and other agility drill times as well as positional stats and other information that the coach feels pertinent.
• A monthly test result sheet.
• NFLE National Player Testing Nomination sheet.

 The NFLE development team has helped us put together the manual based on the criteria they use for identifying and developing their national players. So the figures we use are well with in reach of our domestic players.

 The results of the first tests should be sent to us as soon as possible (using the information sheets) for input into the Elite Player database. Then on a monthly basis these players would repeat these drills to gauge how they are progressing.  The database information will be up dated as the monthly test results sheets come in. The GB coaches would then use this information to grade the players for selection to GB camps. This will ensure that we have the best players available for the national team and that these players are constantly striving to improve as athletes.

 Our partnership with the NFLE will extend to sharing this information with them as well as working together to develop the next generation of NFLE National players.