THE BOMBERS
YOUTH ACADEMY
Learn more about our youth program, currently catering for 13-16 year olds.
The Bombers Academy prides itself on being for every player of every ability and fun place to play American Football. Whilst having fun the Academy still has a proud history of playoff football and producing top talent with several players having gone on to play for Great Britian and to receive US college offers. The Bombers Academy was formed late 2014 by senior team founder, Iain Bushell, who was also head coach with the other coaching staff being Tony Marfitt, Tony Hughes and Wayne Rodgers. The first full year, 2015, was spent recruiting players, coaches and playing friendlies and by the end of the year an U16s 5 v 5 affiliate team.
The history of the Bombers Academy. 2016 This year started with Tony Marfitt taking over head coach duties from Iain Bushell and the addition of Alan Chambers as defensive coach. U16s - The Bombers U16s first competitive was in the North East division featuring established team Leeds Assassins, Doncaster Colts and Sheffield Predators. The Bombers smashed the season with an .800 record and to finish as North East champions and advance to the National Champions where they finished in 8th place. 2017 This year started with the addition of Ryan Dean and Mark Harrison as assistant coaches. U19s - With the majority of the successful U16s squad making up the Academy's first U19s 9v9 team expectations were high. The Academy's small squad had some close games but finished the year winless against strong opposition in the form of Manchester Titans, Merseyside Hawks and Chester Romans. U16s - A broadly new and young U16s squad was again in an enlarged North East division with heavyweights Leeds Assassins, Doncaster Colts, Sheffield Forge and North East Academy and finished with a creditable .500 record. 2018 This years coaches changes say Steve Blackburn come in as defensive coordinator for Ryan Dean and Alan Chambers moving to head coach of the U16s and Tony Marfitt taking on the new role of Academy performance director and U19s head coach. U19s - This was a rebuilding year as a number of original U19s players moved on to university. U16s - The lessons learned over the previous years along with the squad growth in size and experience led to high hopes of a return to playoff football. The U16s were again in the North East division facing old foes Doncaster Colts, Leeds Assassins and the new Gateshead Senators, the high expectations were warranted as the U16s finished North East runners up with a .750 record and making the national plate finals. The U16s finished 1 and 2 at the plate finals finishing 4th and 12 overall nationally. 2019 This year saw the addition of Kev Grove as U16s offensive coordinator at the end of the season Tony Marfitt stepped down after a very successful start to the Academy and Alan Chambers took on the role of Academy performance director. U19s - The revamped U19s joined the East division along with new rivals Ipswich Cardinals, Essex Spartans, Black Country Vipers finishing with creditable first year .500 record, narrowly missing out on a playoff berth on head to head versus Ipswich. U16s - The U16s were rebuilding again but expectations remained high as they knew they had a tried and tested offensive and defensive formula. The Bombers were again in the North East divsion facing Leeds Assassins, Gateshead Senators, Sheffield Giants and new team SESKU. The season started poorly as recruitment was still ongoing but finished strongly needing to win their last tournament 3-0 to make the playoffs, the U16s finished with a .666 record as North East runners up for the 2nd year running to Leeds Assassins. The Bombers finished the plate finals with a 2 and 1 record, finishing 5th and 13th nationally. 2021 Post Covid saw a complete reshuffle off the field with Marc Fleckney and Richard Humphries joining Kev Grove and Alan Chambers on the coaching staff. U19s - This again was rebuilding year U16s - Post Covid the U16s were a small squad and found themselves again in the tough North East division with Sheffield Giants, SESKU and the newly formed Scunthorpe Alphas. The U16s finished with a creditable .540 record to finish runners up for the 3rd time in the division but unfortunately missing out of the playoffs 2022 U19s - The U19s are back in Division 2 North facing the champions of the last 3 years in Northants Knights and Black Country Vipers. The Bombers finish with a respectable .500 record and again narrowly miss out on playoffs. U16s - The U16s divisions are rejigged with 11 teams, all across the North. The Bombers play some of their best U16s football ever to finish with a .750 record, scoring 140 points in the final tournament and the only team to beat division winners Leeds Assassins. Despite this banner year they narrowly miss out on the rejigged playoffs. 2023 A lack of recruitment post Covid captures up with the Bombers Academy and they are only able to field an U19s team for the first half of the season finishing with a 0.429 record, but being the only team to beat eventual national winners North East Giants. 2024 With a new Bombers committee the decision is made to restart the Academy from the ground up, rebooting Academy recruitment in schools, and focusing on rebuilding the U16s team. The foundations of the Academy are strong and bright under the continued guidance of Academy performance director, Alan Chambers, and the aim is to be back to playoff football soon.