The Gold Coast school that embraced gridiron, will represent Australia at NFL’s Pro Bowl

A phone call in September piqued the Gold Coast teacher’s interest, now her school side will represent Australia as part of Pro Bowl festivities in Las Vegas.

“It was a whirlwind,” Moeckel explains.

The primary school teacher, who quickly became a gridiron coach, and twelve Varsity College students will compete in the NFL’s Flag Football championship then attend the NFL’s Pro Bowl this Sunday.

“The kids are still in disbelief,” Moeckel says.

Last September, the PE teacher in Varsity Lakes was contacted about entering a team to play flag football (touch gridiron for the uninitiated) in a competition run by the just established NFL office in Australia.

There was one very large carrot from the NFL’s school liaison.

“He rang up and said, ‘Listen, do you want to go to Vegas?’” Moeckel recalls.

“He said, ‘All you’ve got to do is win this NFL tournament’.”

She perked up further when told only ten schools would be competing.

“I thought ‘Ten schools, the chances are high’.”

It seemed too good to be true, but Moeckel was prepared to take a chance. She attended an information day the NFL ran for teachers, and signed her school up.

With six weeks to the competition day, she spread the word. Soon 250 kids turned up to try out.

Varsity did have one secret weapon; 11 year-old Kane Buchanan had already played gridiron, so he took the quarterback role and soon Moeckel whittled it down to eleven other boys and girls.

“We trained every morning for six weeks,” Moeckel says of the crash course in the new sport. “Learning the strategy, the routes and positional play.”

Even though Varsity College is a big school, as a state school there was still an element of David v Goliath.

The other competing schools were primarily private schools with their own specialist sports programs, but when it came to competition day the Varsity kids showed they’d taken to the new game best.

After drawing their first game, Varsity got rolling and won all the way to the grand final. In the decider, scores were tied at 14 with two minutes left when Moeckel’s charges scored a touchdown.

They were going to Vegas.

Or so they thought.

It might be relatively simple for private schools to organise an overseas trip, but for a state school? Lots of red tape.

“I came back and said to our Principal, ‘We’ve won a trip to Vegas’,” Moeckel says.

“He said ‘Lara, it’s the capital city of gambling and you want to take twelve 12-year-olds to the Vegas strip,” Moeckel laughs.

“His eyes rolled back and we thought, ‘How are we going to make this work’.”

The school had to go directly to the Queensland Director-General of Education to approve the trip as an excursion permit was needed.

A permit would be required for a school to visit a zoo, let alone Vegas, so this was not a simple box-ticking exercise.

Moeckel spent December and a good portion of her school holidays, supported by the school and the NFL, getting all the documentation in place and submitting it.

Finally, the trip was approved. Moeckel was happy to give up her holidays.

“It’s OK, I’m going to Vegas!”

This week the school will take on global counterparts, playing against schools from Germany, Japan and Canada as they aim to progress to Friday’s finals.

The NFL will then host the team at Sunday’s Pro Bowl, the virtual NFL all-star game that whets the appetite for fans a week ahead of the Super Bowl.

The kids will be hanging out with NFL players. Jay-Z is rumoured to be playing at a private event the kids are invited to.

This red-carpet treatment is symbolic of the NFL’s international push. It has the financial might to do things bigger than any sport in the world and this week’s effort with Varsity College confirms that Australia is very much part of their plans.

The Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles and the LA Rams have also been involved as Australian-aligned NFL franchises, the Varsity College kids wore LA Rams kit during their Australian tournament win.

While this visit will be one to remember for the twelve students, it may also be the tip of the iceberg for the NFL’s Australian operation.

It now has the perfect case study to attract schools to sign up for a bigger version of their Australian flag football competition later in the year.

Moeckel says the effect on the kids at Varsity College has been profound.

“It’s been the talk of the school, gridiron balls have been on the oval 24/7. The kids are really pumped about the NFL.”

There’s at least one school full of kids now looking to find a club to take up America’s favourite sport.

“They have loved it.”