The home of American Football in Beds, Bucks and Northants
Pre-Season training for all Ouse Valley Eagles teams starts on Sunday 6 January 2019 at Bedford International Athletics Stadium.
10:00am Seniors
11:00am Juniors and Youths
Please be on the field at the appointed time. Anyone coming to their first session please arrive in plenty of time for a chat with coaching staff.
Enjoy the remainder of your holidays and let’s be ready to go in the first week of the new year.
We’re back in Milton Keynes for another off-season try-out session. Come and join in.
Anyone wishing to have a try of the sport is welcome whether you are 13-19 youth / junior or 18+ . The session is free of charge, without pads and is aimed at people new to the sport or new to the club. Please be ready in plenty of time in outdoor sports clothing (3G surface) and bring water to drink.
We’re back in Bedford for another off-season try-out session. If you want to have a go at the game do come along. It’s all free!
Anyone wishing to have a try of the sport is welcome whether you are 13-19 youth / junior or 18+ . The session is free of charge, without pads and is aimed at people new to the sport or new to the club. Please be ready in plenty of time in outdoor sports clothing (grass surface) and bring water to drink.
Following a successful first dy at Bedford our second off-season Try-Out Session is at Stantonbury Campus, Milton Keynes on Sunday 11 November at Midday.
Anyone wishing to have a try of the sport is welcome whether you are 13-19 youth / junior or 18+ . The session is free of charge, without pads and is aimed at people new to the sport or new to the club. Please be ready in plenty of time in outdoor sports clothing (3G surface) and bring water to drink.
Our coaches will take you through drills which replicate the game so it will be good fun whilst you start picking up game skills.
Please come to as many sessions as you can. It’s all free of charge!!
The first of our November taster sessions is in Bedford on Sunday 4 November starting at Midday.
Anyone wishing to have a try of the sport is welcome whether you are 13-19 youth / junior or 18+ . The session is free of charge, without pads and is aimed at people new to the sport or new to the club. Please be ready in plenty of time in outdoor sports clothing (grass surface) and bring water to drink.
Although we are in the off-season there’s no excuse for slacking!
We’re hosting taster sessions for all of you wishing to have a try at the game on every Sunday in November. Doesn’t matter if you are youth (13-17), junior (16-19) or adult senior or flag (18+) please come along to any or all of them and run through drills and practices with our coaches. It’s all free of charge and suitable for anyone interested in the game. Look at the events or ‘Contact Us’ for more details.
This Saturday (17th March) sees the OVE Academy, consisting of Bedford Blackhawks and Milton Keynes Redwings, host the Nuneaton Jaguars in a joint training session and scrimmage.
The Jags are no strangers to the Blackhawks having hosted the Bedford lads on two occasions last season, so it’s only fair that the favour was returned to the fastest growing Youth Teams in the UK.
As part of the session all three squads will do their bit to help raise attention to this year’s Sports Relief and they welcome any interested 13-17 year-olds down to join the training section of the session.
Blackhawks Head Coach Nick Benning can’t wait for the session to begin:
“Much like our own set up, the Jags have had outstanding success going from nothing but a dream 18 months ago to one of the largest youth squads in the UK today.
“We joined Coach Lawrence’s team for two great sessions last year we are looking forward to returning the favour. On the day we will have boys and girls from all three teams working together learning from a variety of Coaches. We will then split down to take part in the kitted scrimmage and give our Rookies a true taste of what the season has in store for them.”
If you are aged between 13 and 17 or know someone who is that wants to take part, feel free to join the team at Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes from 11am on Saturday.
The 2017 Annual General Meeting will take place at 11am on Sunday 10th December at the University of Bedfordshire’s Bedford Campus.
All club members, coaches, committee, friends, family and supporters are welcome to attend the AGM. This includes all teams under the Ouse Valley Football banner: Ouse Valley Eagles Senior, Bedford Blackhawks Flag, Bedford Blackhawks Youth, Milton Keynes Redwings Youth.
We’ll try and keep things short, and focus on giving you a chance to ask questions rather than listen to us talk at you. We’ll cover elections to the committee for the year ahead (see below) as well as a brief financial update, a review of 2017 and then look ahead to the upcoming year.
All registered players, coaches, committee members and staff over the age of 18 will be eligible to vote. While we’d love to see former and prospective club members, players, coaches etc. on the day, only those registered for the 2017 season will be eligible to vote.
If you can’t make the meeting, you can ask someone to be your proxy. This means that you can ask someone to vote on your behalf, but you have to let us know in advance.
We are currently reviewing our constitution to make sure it’s in good shape. There will be some minor amendments required to support the positions detailed below, and we’ll discuss those on the day.
If you would like to request an item be raised or discussed at the AGM please let us know at least seven days in advance, i.e. by 11am on Sunday 3rd December.
All committee positions will be up for election at the meeting, except for the role of Club Chairman which has a two-year term and was elected last year:
– Treasurer (two-year role)
– Academy Coordinator (two-year role)
– Flag Football Coordinator (two-year role)
– Communications Manager (one-year role)
– Child Welfare Officer (one-year role)
– 3 x Ordinary Members (one-year role)
As per the Club Constitution, all persons intending to stand must give notification of their intent prior to the AGM by completing the form below. All nominations also have to be proposed by two team members – one of whom must be an existing Committee member.
All roles involve a significant amount of commitment. Prospective Committee members will need to to attend regular meetings via Google Hangouts, attend team events, own the delivery of specific pieces of work and have the time available carry out any tasks required.
There are a number of alternative ways to help the team without being on the Committee. We will be posting details of some particular vacancies we have shortly, so if you’d like to get involved in other ways, please watch this space!
Open to those interested in playing for the Ouse Valley Eagles senior (18+), Bedford Blackhawks Youth (U17) or Milton Keynes Redwings (U17) full contact teams, as well as the Blackhawks senior flag (16+) team, the fourth and final Open Session of the month takes place this Sunday in Luton.
The session runs from 10am to 12pm at Lealands High School, and registrations open at 9.45am.
If you have always fancied having a go why not try it out and see how you get on? No previous experience is necessary, as our team of qualified coaches will put you through your paces running a series of non-contact passing, catching, running and blocking drills designed to give you a real taste of American Football.
If you want to know what to expect at the session, check out this highlights video from our session in Bedford earlier this month:
If you are coming along please mark yourself as attending on the Facebook event, and there are a few things you’ll need to bring with you:
– Water (recommended 2L but the more the better).
– Footwear suitable to be worn on artificial turf
– Shorts/Joggers or similar
– Top of some kind: sweatshirt, t-shirt or similar
– Gumshield (optional but recommended)
Before the session you will be asked to complete a simple registration form (registrations open at 9.45am). Please note for U18s this will need to be completed by a parent or guardian. If you would like to download a registration form and complete it ahead of the session, you can do so here.
It’s not too late to register your interest in Sunday’s session. Just complete the form below, get in touch via Twitter or check out the event on our Facebook page.
Open to those interested in playing for the Ouse Valley Eagles senior (18+), Bedford Blackhawks Youth (U17) or Milton Keynes Redwings (U17) full contact teams, as well as the Blackhawks senior flag (16+) team, the third Open Session of the month takes place this Sunday in Northampton.
The session runs from 10am to 12pm at Northampton High School, and registrations open at 9.45am.
If you have always fancied having a go why not try it out and see how you get on? No previous experience is necessary, as our team of qualified coaches will put you through your paces running a series of non-contact passing, catching, running and blocking drills designed to give you a real taste of American Football.
If you want to know what to expect at the session, check out this highlights video from our session in Bedford two weeks ago:
If you are coming along please mark yourself as attending on the Facebook event, and there are a few things you’ll need to bring with you:
– Water (recommended 2L but the more the better).
– Footwear suitable to be worn on artificial turf
– Shorts/Joggers or similar
– Top of some kind: sweatshirt, t-shirt or similar
– Gumshield (optional but recommended)
Before the session you will be asked to complete a simple registration form (registrations open at 9.45am). Please note for U18s this will need to be completed by a parent or guardian. If you would like to download a registration form and complete it ahead of the session, you can do so here.
It’s not too late to register your interest in either of our remaining sessions. Just complete the form below, get in touch via Twitter or check out the events on our Facebook page.
As well as Sunday’s session we will be running an additional session on Sunday 26th November at Lealands High School in Luton, from 10am – 12pm.