The year of 2012 sports was full of great events. The New York Giants wins in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots...
The year of 2012
sports was full of great events. The New York Giants wins in the NFL
Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots. LeBron James
finally wins his first NBA Championship with the Miami Heat. The San
Francisco Giants wins 4-0 over the Detroit Tigers in the MLB World
Series. Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour De France. In London, the
2012 Olympic games were held with records being broken and cementing
the legacy of Michael Phelps and in Asia, the Philippine Punishers
American Football Team burst into the American Football scene. What?
Wait. The Philippine Punishers? Who in the world are the Philippine
Punishers?
The Philippine Punishers is comprised
of Filipinos, Americans, Australians, Chinese and Canadians whose age
ranges from 18-43. Despite the misconception that American Football
is only for big people, there are players as small as 4’11” up to
6’7” with the biggest Filipino player being 6’1 and 365 lbs.
The team was created to introduce and
popularize American Football in the Philippines where the sport is
not yet familiar and to be played at the local and international
levels. It was built simply by word of mouth among those expressing
interest in learning how to play American Football.
The Philippine Punishers came into
international scene in Asia in a big way by playing against
established organizations such as the Beijing Guardians, Hong Kong
Cobras (twice), Guam All-Stars and Saipan Sharks. They had a very
successful year by posting a 4-1 win/loss record even though 85% of
the Filipino players have less than 1 year of playing experience.
The Head Coach of the Philippine
Punishers is Tim Beasley. He has played and coached in 3 different
continents over the past 20+ years. He got his first coaching job
while playing in the Netherlands. After spending 4 years coaching
and playing with various Dutch teams from the Nederland American
Football Federation, Coach Tim moved back to the USA. He spent 17
years playing and coaching in Mississippi, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
After arriving in the Philippines in
2010, Coach Tim and a few Punisher founders saw the potential and
recognized the need to help Filipino players improve their basic
fundamentals and techniques, this after observing pick-up football
which was played by some on weekends.
As a member of the American Football
Federation of the Philippines (AFFP), the Punishers are serving as
mentors for new players in the American Football Developmental League
(AFDL). The mission of the AFDL is the development of Filipinos as
American Football players and as Game Officials. They hold weekly
fundamental trainings and the AFDL league will be starting its
inaugural season on 3 March 2013.
Learn more about the Philippine
Punishers at www.facebook.com/philippine-punishers,
American Football Developmental League at
www.facebook.com/americanfootballdevelopmentalleaguephilippines
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