A pride in professionalism. One who strives for continuous improvement . And a dedicated coach on and off the field. A sit down with Birmingham Lions Head Coach Tony Athersmith.

By Luke de Costa

Coach Athersmith (left) & Coach Hill (right)

After winning the national championship last season Birmingham Lions man in charge Tony Athersmith had his sights set on improving on what had already been a record breaking year. The Lions smashed University and BUAFL scoring records with an outstanding offensive show every week of the season. Experimenting with a variety of plays, schemes and formations the league was exposed to a display in an excellence in execution which other teams aspire to. This progressive team were taking the game to another level in the UK, some teams were hot on their heals, but most, eating their dust.

So what are the keys to Birmingham’s success on and off the field? Is it simply a case of hard work and sweating it out in practice, or is there something in the water at the University of Birmingham? I sat down with Coach Athersmith under the spot lights of an overexposed newsroom for a quick chat.

Thanks for joining us Coach, lets get to it. People have said the key to success in this game has a lot to do with the relationships which exist between coaches and players. How do you go about engaging players and grasping the attention of new students?

I think for the existing players especially this years, we had a great core coming back from last year, something like forty two players and they’d all been through tough battles like the game against Hertfordshire last season. So those players were battle ready and that was a key thing for us. And then the new guys, we wanted to set out goals early with them. I think the way we practised, viewed game film, they could see everything we did was done professionally. We got them on board quickly and made it fun which was important.

How important has it been to equip your players with skills which are transferable to a world outside of football? Do you think you’ve made a positive change to some of your players?

We always talk about doing things right on and off the field. If any of our players have personal issues I tell them they can come and talk to me and we can get away from football and have a chat. We try to build one on one relationships. And, we talk about things like motivation, leadership skills and things which are transferable in life and how these qualities can develop further when they leave University. We try to build the full package.

Your offense has been described as record setting, how would you describe the offensive side of the ball?

(smiles and pauses) I think what everybody has been more focused on is how many points we’ve scored this year and that’s great but I want to look at productivity, make sure everyone’s touching the ball, how many times did we go three and out which I hate, how many picks, how many fumbles have we lost. Yeah, we have a spread offense which we’re totally dedicated to and we can do many things from it which is great. But we’re not focused on the points and setting records. We’re focused on overall performance and if we’re getting better every week, that’s the key for me.

What goals do you have for yourself and the team?

I just want to get better. I love the things that some guys don’t. I like practice, going into the film room and turning all the lights off and going through it, looking at plays and seeing what’s good and what could be better. I like the things which go on during the week, building up to Sundays. And then on game day it’s more of an adjustment to the players where as I think the coaches do a lot of the work in the week and that’s great for preparation and the team as a whole. So I like all that stuff, and I think focusing on player development is key for us.

Do you have a certain coaching philosophy?

Well (pauses). I think a lot of people still have this raw mentality, they like to put two backs in and pound the ball out. We’re quite lucky we’ve got a QB and have been able to stick to the spread formation. But it all comes back to lets have fun, lets have good defense, special teams, and lets do some things on offense that not everyone around the league does.

Hear how Tony felt ahead of his first season as Head Coach in an extract from our interview earlier this year.