How the Mönchengladbach Wolfpack is looking for offspring

Five sports have now come together under the umbrella of the American Sports club in Mönchengladbach: American football, baseball, cheerleading, cheerdancing and bowling. While the latter sport acts autonomously, the other four recently had one person who takes care of everything: Phil Scales, the head coach of the senior American football team at Wolfpack Mönchengladbach.

In fact, the trainer, who looks after up to 60 players in his team alone, hardly has time for other activities. But Scales and other volunteers in the club are busy enough to win new players – especially children and young people – for their sports. Among other things, American Sports is in constant contact with the schools in the city area, where Scales or other trainers then hold project events. For example, it is about how to use the playground equipment or how to handle a baseball bat – for both boys and girls who are interested.

In addition, the American Footballers recently organized an open training day in the Grenzland Stadium, where not only the coaches around Scales and the U16 and U19 teams took part, but also numerous “newbies” could get to know the sport. “It’s another step in introducing young people from the city to the increasingly popular American football,” says Scales.

17-year-old Fabio came to the camp through his girlfriend, who is already on the Wolfpack women’s team. “I’ve been interested in this sport for a long time, that’s why I’m here today,” he says. He is not afraid of injuries, “they are part of it”. It was also the first training camp for 18-year-old Nico – and it didn’t go quite so well: he dislocated his little finger during an exercise. But he still took part in all other units – and generally wants to stay with American football. A friend of Nico’s is 18-year-old Tom, whose dream is to become quarterback. He was also enthusiastic about the training offer: “That’s not just talk, the team is really a big family, so everyone helps the other.”

But this sense of family, togetherness, was severely restricted in the corona pandemic, explains club chairwoman Stefanie Radeck – all the more was the challenge for coach Scales. “When I see how everyone is trying to advance the club under Phil’s guidance, I don’t get scared and worried. Phil is currently a kind of jackpot for us: He takes care of everything, including things that are outside of sporting success. He always has some good ideas,” says Radek. “He doesn’t like it when things stagnate, so he fires up and inspires those around him.” Scales not only trains his team, but also regularly gives coaching lessons to the entire coaching staff. The team managers also receive training.

The regional focus of the football team is the south of Mönchengladbach, as the Wolfpack has found a new home there with the Odenkirchen-Süd facility since last year. However, the sports facility, which will soon have an artificial turf field with football markings as part of the newly launched sports development plan, is only available to the club in the summer months from April to October, which is why the training day took place on the hockey field of the Grenzlandstadion. “Certainly not the best surface for our specific movement and, above all, tackle training,” says Scales, “but we are currently grateful for every square centimeter of training space that we can use to plan regardless of the weather.”

The training camp seems to have made an impression on the participants. According to coach Scales, eleven of the 15 “newcomers” from the training camp have already registered with the club. The new season starts on May 14th. “There’s enough talent in the city so we don’t have to look farther afield,” says Scales. And anyone who is interested can still come to the team’s training days.