Manyweather has now reduced his OL Masterminds summit capacity to 200 in order to make it more personal, and he even brought it to the UK in October to help grow the sport across Europe.
The long-term plan is to make it a regular European tour, owing to the sport’s growth in the continent.
“We’re seeing year on year kids coming in younger but bigger, more physical, more athletic,” says Andrew Watts, tackle for Great Britain Lions’ men’s team, who attended the camp in Nottingham.
“It used to be the days that if you were a big kid in your year group you’d go and play rugby. Well, now they’ve got alternative sports that they can do as well.
“They’ve got an opportunity to come and play American football. We’re seeing kids that are looking up to the NFL and seeing the American college system and that being their target.”
With players and coaches in one of the sport’s undervalued positions together for two days, the possibilities from Manyweather’s camp both in and out of the classroom are wide-ranging.
“There’s professional leagues in Europe, but it’s still an amateur sport in the UK,” adds Great Britain’s under-17s head coach Mike Davies, who also works as the offensive co-ordinator for Coventry Phoenix.
“It may be that some of the contacts that are made here lead to coaching opportunities overseas or playing opportunities overseas as well. The networking aspect of this is huge.”
As well as his yearly summits and coaching with NFL veterans including Lane Johnson, Creed Humphrey and 2025 first-round draft pick Tyler Booker, Manyweather will hope to make his summits in the UK a regular event rather than a one-off.
“It really puts into perspective the work that you’re doing and that teams value it,” he says.
“Not every team is openly receptive to collaborate in that manner, but there are teams that are, and it’s really cool, and I always make it a point like I’m not going to work for any team, but I’ll work with you.”
