After a little prodding, it didn’t take long for Becky Kraft to appreciate playing Australian Rules Football.
The Plymouth native, who played Gaelic football while studying abroad in Ireland, returned to Minnesota and began playing Twin Cities Gaelic football. Some of her teammates also played Australian Rules Football, but the sport’s physicality deterred her initially.
Left to right: Lindsay Belzie, Kyle Graham, Aimee Legault, Ronan Shaughnessy, Margo Legault at US Nationals 2010 in the State of Kentucky.
This is a very exciting year for Australian Rules Football, as the International Championship (World cup) takes place this year in Australia. This is the first year that there will be a Women's Division with six teams competing: Canada, USA, Italy, Ireland, Papau New Guinea and a combined Multicultural and Indigenous team. The women’s section of the IC11 will be played between the 15th - 27th of August, 2011 in Sydney and Melbourne.
New head coach Tristan Waldock is proud to announce 27 players to the 2011 AFL Canada Northern Lights squad. We are very proud of our selections and confident in our team going to Australia to compete in the first Women's Division of the International Cup in August, 2011!
USA Freedom Coach, Leigh Barnes, announced the USA Freedom squad for the 2011 AFL International Cup today. The team will travel to Australia in August to compete in the first ever women’s International Cup competition.
Six teams from the USA, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Italy, Ireland and a Multi-cultural Indigenous team will compete in this history-making event in Sydney and Melbourne from August 15-27.
Last weekend the USA Revolution and USA Freedom held their final training camp before the 2011 International Cup in Austin, Texas. There were 34 Revolution and 22 Freedom hopefuls competing for a spot on the squads to travel to Australia in August.
"The weekend was a great success and definitely gave us a lot to think about", said Revolution Head Coach, Matt Bishop, "We will be announcing the squad for the 2011 International Cup in the coming weeks".
The USA Freedom are preparing for their first ever AFL International Cup tour to Australia later this year.
“I’m extremely excited to be coaching the Freedom at their first big international tournament.” said Coach, Leigh Barnes, “This is going to be a fantastic experience for both the players and coaching staff and the event will mark a significant achievement in the history of women’s footy in the U.S.”.
