LONDON -- After landing early Friday morning in London, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is focusing his attentions wholly on beating Tampa Bay Sunday. But he set aside some time to offer his personal support to the other U.S. team looking for victory in old England this weekend.
The varsity football squad from Kent School in Connecticut will play Saturday against the Filton College Pride -- a junior team from Bristol in the west of England -- in a special challenge game. The hosts, attached to a local prep school, are one of the few academies in Europe that offers specialist coaching to aspiring players. What is being tagged as 'Global Bowl Bristol' will, however, be their first-ever home tie.
Kent's students have spent the past two days sightseeing in London while conducting practice in the city's Royal Parks. The team's head coach, Todd Marble, admits the visit -- organized by Global Football, a youth program with links to the NFL -- is a dream come true for staff and players alike. However, he was not expecting the telephone call that came into the travelling party's hotel.
"We were dead tired when we arrived," Marble said. "But I got a note from the staff that a coach from the New England Patriots had called. I dismissed it initially. I had met Bill Belichick a few times in the past but I tried to get through on the number and had no success. I was going to leave it but my assistant said 'you oughta keep going'.
"At that point, I had no idea specifically who had called. One of the assistants picked up and about 10 seconds later, Coach Belichick came on the phone. This is a side of him that not many people know about. Every coach respects him beyond words but this is the type of guy he is.
"I'd spoken to him last spring about how we were making the trip to London but for him to take the time to speak with a high school football coach to wish us luck, what can you say about that? When I told the kids, their jaws just dropped. It made an amazing experience all the more exciting."
