Sheffield Amercian football star’s dream of representing GB in European Championships

Amy Wells, aged 24, is hoping to raise around £1,000 to cover the cost of travel and accommodation for the trip to the Flag Football Euro Championships in Israel later this month.

Flag football is a non-contact version of the sport where the defending team have to remove a flag from the ball carrier.

Amy said: “It’s so exciting and this is the second time I’ve been selected to represent GB at the championships. I was over the moon.”

She said a lack of funding meant that players had been encouraged to fundraise to cover their costs.

Amy added: “The National Governing Body for American Football doesn’t have enough funding to give to our teams as flag football isn’t as popular as full contact American football.

“They suggested we fundraise about £1000 each to cover the cost of travel and accommodation.”

Amy said how important it is to her to raise the profile of flag football and traditional american football in the UK as she has had such a positive experience with it.

She added: “I moved to Sheffield and my partner’s brother in law is a coach so they encouraged me to go and make some new friends through flag football.

"Being in a sports team is good for your mental health and the sport is getting bigger.”

Amy said she hoped that funding will come through with more people joining and more interest from people in American football will help encourage more girls and boys to join the sport.

She added: “Sheffield is 100 per cent one of the main places for American football as six girls in our team are from Sheffield.”

For more information or to donate visit https://www.gofundme.com/help-me-get-to-the-euros.