IFAF ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT STAFFING RESTRUCTURE

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) today announced a restructure in its daily staffing organization and confirmed the roles of employees charged with overseeing the worldwide development and advancement of the game of American Football.

SAMANTHA RAPOPORT will assume the role of IFAF Director of Operations and JACK REED will focus entirely on his role as IFAF Development Manager, a position he has held since April 2010, having previously also held USA Football responsibilities.

Rapoport has a strong knowledge of international American football having played competitively since she was 14 years old. In high school she played on the Canadian flag football national team and while attending McGill University in Montreal, played women's tackle football as starting quarterback with the Montreal Blitz.

Rapoport began her career in 2003 in the NFL marketing department, assisting with the launch of the NFL Network and Kickoff 2003 then in 2004, moved to the NFL Player Personnel department where she worked on player contracts and the 2004 and 2005 NFL Drafts.

In 2005 a role in the NFL Youth Football department saw her oversee youth programs such as NFL FLAG and NFL Street Unplugged and in 2007, she created a program called the NFL Girls Flag Football Leadership Program that helps young females across the country find an outlet to play the sport they love. The program selected 10 girls nationwide to champion the movement at their respective schools and now more than 19,000 have been introduced to the sport of flag football in 14 cities and the program continues to grow.

As Manager of International Programs with USA Football from October 2007 to August 2010, Reed worked on many IFAF initiatives including the NFL Youth Football Fund Grant programs, USA Football's national team programs, 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship, 2008 and 2010 IFAF Technical Conferences, 2008 IFAF Development Tour and 2010 USA vs. World event.

His areas of responsibility include overseeing the IFAF World Team, IFAF Equipment Grant Program, IFAF Education Development Program (EDP), and member development, including the introduction of the game in Africa and additional territories. Reed also serves as the Pan American Federation of American Football Administrative Secretary and will be based in Massachusetts.

He studied Sports Management at New York University's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management and completed an internship with IFAF before being hired at USA Football. He has three children: Kali (5), Jack (4) and Brady (1).

EJC 2011: Adventures ahead!

The European Junior Championships 2011 in Spain will turn out to be a very special trip for athletes and staff of the six participating nations. Not only will the teams compete to determine the 11th European champion of junior age level at Salou/Tarragona from August 28 to September 3, but their trip to Spain will provide some more adventurous experiences, as EFAF and the Local Organizing Committee have partnered up with the PortAventura theme park to arrange for accommodation at the park's hotels during the event.

That might require some extra efforts from coaching staffs to keep their players focused on the games and the tournament. On the other hand: The prospects of possible victory parties in the splendid environment of a Mediterranean theme park hotel surely should enhance practice efforts all over Europe in the junior age group during the upcoming months. During the tournament players and staff will have access to the amusement park, the beach club, the Aquatic park and the other facilities of PortAventura for the whole time of their stay. Special cost-reduced packages for player's families will be available as well, the whole arrangement is deemed to be a reward for the best young American Football players from all over Europe.

Qualification rounds for the tournament are already on their way, Serbia won the tournament of the preliminary round this year and now will have the chance to face France in a game for one of the final tournament spots. Other games scheduled for spring 2011 are Denmark vs. Finland and Austria vs. Russia, the latter one scheduled for April 24 at Vienna. The hosts from Spain, reigning European Junior champions from Germany and Sweden, the other finalist of 2008, will join the three winners of the qualification games in the final tournament.

With the EJC 2011 scheduled for the end of August 2011 the tournament date has been moved to late summer, mainly because the IFAF World Cup for senior national teams next year will be played in early summer in Austria. But of course the later date will also help to avoid the hot summer days in Spain, although at last EJC at Sevilla the teams did not report any problems with the climate. But games had to be played in the morning or evening hours, at Salou/Tarragona a more flexible scheduling of games and practices will be possible.

The local organizers and EFAF president Robert Huber finalized the arrangements for the tournament during Huber's recent inspection visit at Tarragona. „We already saw a well-organized tournament in 2008 at Sevilla, but the Spanish federation AEFA is able to take the European Junior Championships even further this time“, said Huber. „The partnership with PortAventura is a very appropriate way to reward the young players for all their efforts, for all the long practice hours, it takes to become a true championship player. Especially these young players deserve all of our appreciation for what they are achieving, as they build the future of American Football in Europe.“