And then there were two...

Okay, so a quick fire second shot.

Preying on my thoughts last night was the fact that before January of this year I had no real clue that I, a lowly Irishman, could play American football on the continent and hope to achieve the dizzying highs of the GFL.

This is really just a shout out to the lads back home in the IAFL or in any small country league that's just emerging now.

Dare to step outside your comfort zone, and if at first you don't succeed; try harder damnit!

I know from playing against them all, and from the odd success story here and there, that a number of players in the IAFL could play at higher levels and I'm sure other developing/amateur leagues are the same.  And if you do decide to take a risk and jump up a few levels, go for broke while you still can. Get on to europlayers.com and get yourself and your skills out there.

When I first started looking for teams I set the ceiling pretty low to be honest, I was looking for teams that weren't too far ahead of where I was already because quite frankly I was scared of failing, both myself and my coaches.  A realisation dawned on me however that I was young enough to shoot for the top, so why the flip not?

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say to anyone reading this, have the guts to bet the house and go for it all.  No guts, no glory.

Preachy and self-righteous I know but hope it speaks to somebody out there.

Carpe that diem people.

PS: In case you needed any more inspiration here's possibly the most rousing song of all time!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ZShmt19uQ