TouchDown UK

After a very competitive season our finals day came down to the last play as the Lothian Storm junior squad scored a TD and converted the 2pt conversion leaving them just 6.5 points behind tournament leading Edinburgh Panthers.
With time running out the Storm seniors fell just short on a last play pass and the Panthers held on to repeat as TDUK champions. Credit, however, to our previously winless Echline Bulls junior squad who out scored everyone else on the day, but couldn’t quite score enough points to take the win, ending up a well earned 2nd.
Final positions:
1st Panthers 45
2nd Bulls 41
3rd Storm 38.5
4th Bombers 25
5th Saints 23
6th Bears 14.5

We still have a limited number of places left at our Queensferry Summer Camp on August 5th. Cost is £5! Message us to book your space - this is open to all, not just our existing players.

The 1st of a number of posts celebrating our year! Congratulations to our Coach Volunteer of the Year Sam McLaren. One of our newer coaches, Sam stepped up not only at Storm practices and game day but also in cementing the move to Newbattle by making himself available on a weekly basis to work with our CDO across the Midlothian area.
Quick to learn and to take feedback on board, Sam helped make our Storm team one of the fastest growing groups in 2024.

And that’s a wrap in our 23-24 school session. We started all the way back on the 21st August and closed with our best attended joint event in 8 years today with Finals day @ Kirkliston Leisure Centre.
Over 4800 kids have gone to our various events this school year, which makes 10000 in the last 2 years…truly mind boggling to think how far our little old charity had come…
Thanks to all coaches, parents, trustees and community partners who make this all possible.

Aaaaand we’re back Meggetland for the Boroughmuir induction day! Huge thanks to and for doing the hard yards today and saving the CDO’s shoulder!

The start of our 2 longest days. The double whammy of James Gillespie and Boroughmuir new S1 transition sports event. Today saw 10 groups from JG and tomorrow 8 from BM. It’s full on, short burst activity and here is our CDO in preparation for the 1st group this morning!

On a morning where no rain fell, a small miracle, our Ferry Bombers were truly blessed to have two of the best and nicest Coaches in Scotland visiting today. Andrew and James have long been friends if TDUK and brought the hammer on both sides of the ball this morning.

Looks like Bears practice is off then….meanwhile less than 15 minutes away the Sun is shining on Fife…….

1st of 2 lunchtimes at Newbattle as part of their new S1 transition. Great to see many well known faces coming to say hello and some even signed up!

1st of two mornings at Queensferry Primary this week as part of their activity week/sports day. Sadly missing .fenton1803 today - hope that concussion isn’t too bad !

Great morning with our Bombers then with this afternoon as we watched former Panthers and Bombers, plus current TDUK coach volunteers, ply their trade with at Sighthill.

It's time for our 3rd annual Summer camp! Open to all of any ability or experience between the ages of 8-16, just email [email protected] for registration information!

And back to this 5 mins later….do g you love Scottish weather!!!

Literally 15 minutes later………

Well this is the weather at Meggetland at the moment, but since we’ve been here at 2, we’ve had 2 huge rain squalls pass thru each about 5 minutes long followed by another beautiful sunny half hour…all the while Boroughmuir kids have been on the field yelling their heads off whatever the conditions…
Panthers are ON this afternoon….

It’s been the work of the school year but as we come towards finals day we’ve seen the Storm double in size in the last couple of weeks. At the start of 2024 we were down to a core of 6 guys - as we approach the end of the Summer term we know have 15 registered players with more already lined up for the 24-25 session.

What is this strange golden orb in the sky??? Why isn’t water falling on our heads?
It is a beautiful day and the end of another busy week around the schools. We close at St Joseph’s RC in Linlithgow and have discovered Mr Hall who plays American Football at Stirling Uni

Another moment from Saturday/ - but this one a little sad…Coach Michael has been with us at the Saints all year, and the team would literally not have stayed functional without him.
Unfortunately, he has had to return to Canada earlier than planned, so Saturdays home scrimmage was his last time with his Saints. He will be much missed.

Another game day highlight. Igor from the Craigmount Bears showing that you don’t need 2 hands to catch. Unbelievably, he made another catch only slightly less one handed later in the event…

We’re ON tomorrow! Thanks to Aidan @ Leith Active Schools we have been able to secure the 3G pitch as a backup for tomorrow’s scrimmage at Leith Academy in case the grass is unplayable!
See all our players and families at 9.30!

Saints practice rained off this afternoon but still made the trip to meet up with a local teacher looking for advice and support for starting up their own school flag team. Great to share the vision and chat about mutual football contacts - and .hennessey your names were mentioned in dispatches!!!

A wonderful meal, but even better to hear about the successful career path of one of our young friends as she steps out in her new role with Youth Scotland. A chance to catch up but more excitingly to share cab out how TouchDownUK and Youth Scotland might work together in the future!
Early days, but huge potential…

The office view this morning! Another new venue as we work with the kids at St Mary’s Polbeth. By the end of the day we will have seen almost 600 kids this week, most of whom have never thrown an American Football before!

Our 1st new school of 3 this week. Low Port is certainly one of the oldest buildings but houses a relatively new school! Looking forward to meeting a completely new group of young people!

Great to have Sam along with us today at Lasswade Primary to help out throwing footballs about this morning!

Not the day we all wanted today for our most excellent friends at The Newcastle Shieldmaidens, but it was wonderful for our CDO to meet with 5 of the original Tynedale Voodoo team that he helped launch pre COVID. Great that so many are still involved in the game…

This will be a great day. Get along and watch!

Wolves welcome guests from abroad
We have hinted at an additional game in our programmes and we are excited to announce we are hosting the travelling squad Coe College Athletics Kohawks. We welcome all guests who wish to see as the Wolves welcome this exceptional opportunity and challenge.
Kickoff 2pm, gates open 1:30pm. Entry free for all
The Wolves are always looking for anyone wishing to join the team as a player, coach, volunteer or sponsor
2024 SPONSORS
- Sharkey
- Lamborghini Edinburgh
- George Nicolson
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Photos provided by Katie Stepek Photography and Coe College Athletics

So it begins…..Our busiest time of the year starts at St Nicholas, Broxburn…the 1st of over 20 health week events across the Lothians…we might need coffee!

*sighs*
Some days don’t work out…huge traffic stramash due to an accident on the Edinburgh bypass and at least a 2 hour delay..So we’ve already postponed this mornings session and we’ll be back at Lasswade Primary in a fortnight

The latest addition at Bombers home field- ladies and gentlemen, we introduce ‘The Parent Cage’!