COACHES CORNER

Meet the Coaches that run the South London Renegades

COACHES BIO QUESTIONAIRE

Name?
Steve Verrall, nickname Hammerhead

Coaching position ?
Head Coach

Tell us about yourself and the team?
I started playing American Football back in 1983 for the Wandsworth Rams. Then from 1984 with the Streatham Olympians. I was the starting Fullback for the Olympians and I played in the first British championship Budweiser Bowl at Villa Park. I moved to North America where I lived and worked for 6 years. I played American Football and Rugby for several US and Canadian teams.
When I returned the UK I started work at the Damilola Taylor Youth Centre in Peckham and as a way of helping young men develop their potential I started the South London Renegades Junior American Football programme – the idea being to introduce the sport to young men and give them some direction and discipline. The programme has had some notable successes – Efe Obada who is a starter for the Carolina Panthers began playing Football as a 17 yr old with the Renegades, Tigie Sankoh from the Cleveland Browns played for the Renegades for 3 years. The Renegades programme has developed a good relationship with several Texas High Schools and Baylor College – coaches from these institutions coming over annually to help and Renegades coaches going over to Texas to develop themselves.

Name?

Johnathan Cobham

Coaching position:

Defensive Coordinator

Tell us about yourself?

I started off my career playing for the South London Renegades in 2012, where I played DE and RT. I learned all the basics of football that I would later go on to use playing for my university team the Staffordshire Stallions and my senior team the London Olympians.
While at Stallions I started off again as a RT and DE. But when I arrived at the Olympians that summer it was made very apparent that I was undersized for both those positions. So I played DE that season with the outlook of converting to a LB.
When I returned to university I played as a DE the first half of the season and LB the second. This transition was effective and when I went back to Olympians I was in regular rotation as a LB.
In my final year of university I strictly played LB, and went on to lead my university to its first winning season in over 6 years as it’s defensive captain. I then made my return to Olympians where I have spent my whole career with, and am now defensive captain of London Olympians.