Marines not backward in footy tryout
AMERICANS are known for their enthusiasm for sport but trying to convince them they should throw a football backwards was a whole different ball game.
US Marines with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division are in Townsville working with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.
They swapped the camouflage for footy boots to train under the North Queensland Cowboys high performance unit manager Paul Bowman.
“We put them through a similar session to what we do with the Cowboys during the pre- season and it’s a bit like a day- in- the- life of our players,” Bowman said.
“We were able to put them through their paces and there were no complaints, they just ripped in.”
Bowman said with most Marines coming from watching NFL there were a few challenges with understanding the rules.
“A few of them watched State of Origin so they knew a little bit of what rugby league was like but it was a bit hard to convince them they had to throw the ball backwards to go forwards,” he said.
Soldiers with the Australian De- fence Force 10th Force Support Battalion also recently trained under Bowman.
“It was refreshing to work with the Army and the Marines because typically we do activities with the general population and sponsors and we are somewhat limited with what we can do,” he said.
“This was a really great experience for us.”