Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Small World of Swedish Football


Cruising about Ventura County yesterday, I stopped by to visit both Simi Valley H.S. and Royal H.S.

Lance Martin
Head Football Coach
Simi Valley H.S.

In the small world that is football and Sweden, it came out that Lance played for Swedish American Football League's Lund Vikings in 1995. We talked a lot about his very positive memories of his time in Sweden which made me feel even more comfortable about our upcoming season in Hässleholm.

Lance mentioned that his coach in Lund is now a counselor at nearby Royal H.S.

John Burton
Counselor
Royal H.S.

Lance gave John, who I had never met before, a heads up that I was in the neighborhood so I stopped off to visit him as well.

He was the Lund Vikings Head Coach from 1989-1995 and was also overflowing with great memories from his time in Sweden! He also had some great coaching ideas about how to deal with the potential unique problems that any American football team in any European country has to face.

This VERY cool newspaper article from a Swedish newspaper about John's Lund team which still hangs in his office.

I wonder what the headline says?

It really is a small world, isn't it?


HURRICANE JASON HITS CALIFORNIA!

Jason Johnson, former Catania Elephant's star QB, arrived in Camarillo Monday afternoon on his way to Fresno for Thanksgiving with his brother's family.

Jason's Approach Shot at Saticoy Regional's
321 yard, Par 4, Ninth Hole

First up we hit the links late in the afternoon for a race between sunset and nine holes of championship golf. We just did beat the sunset as we teed off on the course's ninth and final hole.

Jason was a remarkable 11 over par for the evening, a feat that I was able to accomplish on the first hole alone!

Post Golf, Post Dinner at Stuft Pizza in Thousand Oaks

After our round of golf, we met Laurie for dinner at Bandit's BBQ in Camarillo and then it was off to Thousand Oaks to meet with the World's #1 European-American Football Blog reader, David P. Lassen.

It was great to see Dave as always but even more fun to see him and Jason interact face-to-face for the first time.

5 comments:

DPLassen said...

I had a great time with you guys as well, spoiled only by the discovery of the Great Thousand Oaks Ice Cream Shortage. And yes, it was fun to finally meet Jason.

Peter said...

The headline of the Swedish newspaper article says "The doctor who'll tackle the violence".

Claud said...

Did Jason use his Iphone "Golf Better" Application with you too?

Monello said...

What possible problems could an American have playing/coaching football in Europe?

Tomas bodin said...

The number of players is by far the biggest problem for most football clubs in Sweden.

The second biggest problem is that to many coaches address this problem the wrong way.

I wish you and your wife a great experience in Sweden and will gladly follow what you can do to the HH football program.

Sincerely

Tomas Bodin
Uppsala 86ers
www.86ers.se