Alex Jenkins started his football here at SGS College and continued through our community program onto a full scholarship with UIW before eventually landing a 4 year contract in 2017 with the New Orleans Saints in the NFL. Jenkins recorded a sack in his second ever game with the Saints.
READ MOREFormer Bristol Academy PRIDE Running Back and Defensive Back, Santigie Sankoh, has signed with the Cleveland Browns. Sankoh is the second player in two years to make this jump into the NFL. No other team in Europe has more former players on an active NFL roster.
The only Junior Team in the United Kingdom playing regular 11on11 fixtures, playing up an age group against top European and International club teams as well as British University sides.
READ MOREFormer Pride player Alex Jenkins is on path to having an NFL career
and is just one of the success stories from our American Football Academy.
We have top of the range facilities Including a full-size floodlit 4G all-weather American Football grid iron and a 60m x 40m 3G artificial indoor pitch.
READ MOREWe now offer competitive games and training sessions across several age groups in various formats to help educate young people on the fundamentals of playing and enjoying this sport.
READ MOREThe Bristol Academy has a long-standing relationship with the Bristol Aztecs, who play in the British American Football Premier League. Several academy students, aged 18 and over, get the benefits of Aztec training during the summer months.
READ MOREThe Pride Academy has a long-standing partnership with the University of West of England Bullets program. The teams often share coaching and many of the PRIDE players have graduated onto university degree and diploma courses.
READ MORE
Those on the team receive up to 16 hours per week training through a combination of field, class and gym work from full-time American Football academy coaches Ben Herod and Daniel Maher. Click here to view their coaching bio’s. In 2017 Former Great Britain Offensive Line Coach, Anthony Fitzpatrick, was also added to the staff.
The Pride competes in fixtures regularly throughout the academic year, both domestically against university sides and internationally against European club sides and various touring American and Canadian high school programmes.
The team also competes regularly in Seven’s competitions. Additionally, the Pride Academy has helped to create its own community 11-on-11 league known as the Bristol Academy Community League (BACL).
The Pride players benefit from using state-of-the-art training facilities which includes an indoor 3G pitch and a full-length 4G pitch for home games.
The players also have access to on-site sports physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches and an elite-level gym based in the new Academy building.
2 Former Players have made the NFL! Alex Jenkins is with the New Orleans Saints and Santigie Sankoh the Cleveland Browns. Currently no other European Team has more NFL players on an active roster.
Click here to read more about our NCAA success stories. The Pride Academy has had unparalleled success over the past six seasons with now 20 of our former students having continued on to study and play football in the USA at NCAA divisional and Junior Colleges.
Our former and current students number more than 50 Great Britain Internationals and three have signed semi-professional contracts for European franchises with help from our partners at HUDL.
Another achievement our coaching staff is particularly proud of was it’s run of three straight SGS College ‘Male Student of the Year Award’ from 2012-2014.
International Caps
American Scholarships
Semi-Pro Careers
NFL Contracts
"My son has played for The Pride for the last two years under Coach Ben Herod. He has shown young men how to not only to respect others but also to respect themselves and go for their dreams. He is a man with so many talents. Not only on the field but also a mentor, guide and someone to look up to. My son now believes in himself and his capabilities more than ever after being part of the squad and under the excellent tuition of Coach Ben. If your son is Interested in American Football then send him here. He will never look back. Go for it. Its an amazing sport."
Mrs Stutter
"We would like to let you know how pleased we've been with how Mitch has got so much from the last 10 months at the American Football Academy. He's quite a different boy from the disinterested student of Year 8 and we're really proud of him and his achievements. It's important to acknowledge your input into his development and we'd sincerely like to thank you."
Marion & Mick Wilson