Gradually the Helvetic Guards football team is coming together. As we move forward we are seeing other teams build themselves as well.
The Wroclaw (Poland) Panthers have hired Dave Christensen and their head coach and the Paris Musketeers signed Marc Mattioli in a similar position. Other teams continue to add to their coaching staff and roster as well.
John Shoop becomes the first head coach of the Munich Ravens and longtime NFL offensive line coach joined the Fehérvár (Pronounce that one) Enthroners in Hungary as an assistant. As we move through the year you can see more and more influence from the US.
We also add a coach. Pete Metzelaars, a longtime NFL tight end became our TE/WR and Special Teams coach. I had known Pete a long time and he was a welcomed addition. In addition to being a very accomplished player (16 years as an NFL player) he has a great rapport with players.
Pete eventually became our offensive line coach in our ever-shifting coaching staff. He was invaluable to the team. Plus, we shared an apartment and had a hell of a time on our time together. We traveled extensively throughout Switzerland … made a lot of friends and took in many sights.
Pete had the ignominious (college word Betsy!) distinction of playing for the Buffalo Bills with Jim Kelly in four losing Super Bowls. When he started coaching he did get to win one with the Indianapolis Colts. He ended his career playing with the Lions while I coached there.
We added some more players as well. Filip Kovljenic a big offensive lineman from the Calanda Broncos along with Fabio Rothmund a linebacker from Winterthur who was playing in Germany both signed on.
We added two more linebackers … Adrian Fielder and Timmy Schürmann. They were both Swiss tags and were playing in Germany for the German Football League champions – the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. The Unicorns have been a perennial power in the GFL.
Robert and William Harvey both became members of the team as well. I had known the Harvey family since 2017 as they played for the Swiss National Team and were players for the Thun Tigers. Both had been in the US finishing college and agreed to become part of our roster.
One of the best catches was Nils Jonkmans as our kicker. He would prove to be one of the best kickers in the 17 league conference. His ‘real” job was as a doctor! Yes, not only a proficient player … but an MD as well.
As we saw our squad begin to take shape … it was apparent that we faced a lot of problems off the field. Although since early October we had been told … “don’t worry about it”… many things still had yet to be addressed.
We formulated a list of things that needed to be attended to that had nothing to do with the roster.
Not much … if anything had been done to address these issues.
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