Signed: Charlie Ovey (DC) and Becky Martin (WR/DL)

Kotka Eagles on tehnyt vuoden jatkosopimukset puolustuksen-koordinaattori Charlie Ovey :n ja pelaaja
Becky Martin :n kanssa!

Charlie Ovey vastaa kaudella 2021 miesten joukkueen puolustuksen koordinoinnista ja toimii naisten päävalmentajana. Lisäksi Charlie on vastuussa junioritoiminnan kehittämisestä.

English:
Kotka Eagles has signed coach Charlie Ovey and player Becky Martin for season 2021.

Charlie Ovey is reponsible of men’s team defensive coordination and he has been signed as new head coach of ladies team. Also Charlie is going to be head of our juniorfootball for next year.

Kotka Eaglesin puolustus sai 2020 tammikuussa vahvistusta valmennustiimiin, kun Charley Ovey saapui Suomeen ja otti puolustuksen haltuunsa. Pelikirja ja pelityyli menivät täysin uusiksi. Pelaajilla riitti paljon opeteltavaa. Korona toi omat lisähaasteensa uusien asioiden sisäänajoon. Charlie piti ”karanteeni-keväänä” paljon video-palavereja ja teki opiskelumateriaaleja pelaajille. Uudet asiat saatiin ajettua olosuhteisiin nähden hyvin sisään. Tämä myös näkyi kentällä! Lähes kaikki Eaglesin historian ennätykset rikottiin.

Syötönkatkoja (interception) napattiin 13. Tämä kertoo siitä, että takakentän pelaajat olivat usein oikeassa paikassa oikeaan aikaan ja että he toimivat erittäin arvaamattomasti vastustan pelinrakentajien silmissä. Pelinrakentaja saatiin säkitettyä (sack) 20 kertaa ja hyökkäys taklattiin miinus-jaardeille (tackle for loss) 35 kertaa. Puolustuksenlinja ja tukimiehet (DL/LB) toimivat hienosti yhteistyössä. Parissakin runkosarjapelissä vastustajan kokonais juoksujaardit jäivät miinukselle! Juoksukeskiarvo jäi 3,4 jaardiin per yritys. Suurin huomio tilastoissa menee kuitenkin peliä kohden päästettyjen pisteiden sarakkeeseen. Eaglesin päästettyjen pisteiden keskiarvo per ottelu, oli vaivaiset 8,2!!!

1-divisioonan tilastoja saa selata monia vuosia taaksepäin, ennen kuin vastaavanlaisia lukemia löytyy. On siis helppo todeta, että puolustus oli sarjan ylivoimaisesti paras ja Charlien tuominen peräsimeen oli erittäin onnistunut päätös seuran johdolta.

Charlien kanssa aiheesta keskusteltuani, hän mainitsi olevansa erityisen ylpeä siitä, että 21 eri pelaajaa sai tilastoihin soolo taklauksen (solo tackle) ja 22 sai puolikkaan (assist).

English:
In January 2020 Kotka Eagles received some reinforcements, to their defensive staff.. Charlie Ovey came to Finland and took full control of the defense. The existing playbook and game style got totally transformed. Returning and new players all had plenty to study. The coronavirus brought in its own difficulties in learning the new stuff. Throughout the quarantine period, the defensive players had online meetings and homework to keep themselves familiar with the material they were being asked to learn. Considering the circumstances, the new playbook was learned well! This you can see from the stats. Virtually every record was broken in Eagles history!

13 interceptions were caught. Defensive backs were found in the right places, constantly punishing the opponent for any mistake. The Defensive Line and the Linebackers made plenty of big plays themselves-the Eagles finished with 20 sacks, and 35 tackles for loss, in 7 games. The Eagles opponents consistently struggled to move the ball, with a 3,4 yard per play average. The biggest note in stats goes to points allowed section where points average in a game was 8,2!

Charlies favourite stat however, is the one showing the depth of the Eagles roster: 21 different players recorded a solo tackle, and 22 players recorded an assisted tackle. It takes everyone!

Päävalmentaja Niclas Carpelanin kommentit:
”Olemme Kotka Eaglesissa tehneet mielestäni todella hyvää työtä vahvistuksien valinnassa toistaiseksi. Jokainen meillä pelannut importti on ollut tosi hyvä tyyppi ihmisenä ja pelaajana. Nyt Charlien kohdalla mielestäni saimme todellisen jättipotin. Charlie on erinomainen valmentaja monella tapaa. Hänellä on tietotaitoa ja myös kykyä saada pelaajat innostumaan harjoittelusta ja sitoutumaan yhteiseen tavoitteeseen. Charlie nosti jo ennestään hyvän puolustuksen ihan uudelle tasolle ja teki toiminnasta paljon ammattimaisempaa. Se on jotain mitä myös meidän hyökkäyksen pitää tavoitella ensikaudella. Puolustus otti ison askeleen Charien johdolla eteenpäin ja tavoitteena on saada sama tehtyä koko joukkueena 2021.
Charlien jatkosopimus kaudelle 2021 on kyllä syksyn paras uutinen!”

English:

Head coach Niclas Carpelan’s comments about signing:

”We here at Kotka Eagles have been doing really good job at picking imports these last seasons. Every import that we have had has been a great person and a great player. Now with signing Charlie I think we hit a jackpot. Charlie is a great coach in many ways. He has the knowhow and the ability to get the players excited about practicing and commiting to the common goal. We already had pretty good defence and Charlie was still able to raise it to another level and made it much more professional. That is something that our offence must also try to achieve next season. Defence took a big step forward and the goal is to make the same thing with rest of the team 2021.
re-signing Charlie is the best news of this fall!”

Naisten joukkue sai oman vahvistuksensa Becky Martin :n muodossa. Becky on puolustuksen linjapelaaja (DL), mutta hän otti isoa roolia pallon molemmin puolin. Tässäkin tapauksessa tilastot kertovat siitä, että hankinta oli erittäin onnistunut.

Ladies got their own import also for next year. Becky Martin has been playing mostly in d-line but this summer she took big role both side of the ball.

Becky:n tilastoja / Becky’s stats in 2020: (Oulun peli ei ole mukana tilastoissa / missing one game)

Puolustus / Defence:
1 forced fumble (pakotettu rähmäys)
7 TFLs (Taklauksia miinus jaardeille)
15 tackles (taklausta)
36 assists (avustettua taklausta)

Hyökkäys / Offence:
4 x 2pt Conversions (3 rush, 1 pass) (Lisäpisteet: 3 juosten, 1 heittäen)
3 x TDs (2 rushing, 1 pass) (maalia, 2 juosten, 1heittomaali)
RUSHING – 11 carries, 37 yards (juoksut: 11 kantoa, 37yd)
RECEIVING – 11 catches, 124 yards (kiinniotot: 11 koppia, 124yd)

Becky :sta Eagles sai siis todellisen monitoimipelaajan. Eaglesin naiset pelasivatkin upean kauden, päästen finaaliin saakka.

Tässä Britti-kaksikon mietteitä niin menneestä, kuin tulevastakin kaudesta.

What kind of feeling did the 2020 season leave you?

Charlie:
”I would say disappointed. The men had so much talent and I think everyone who followed Division 1 this year would agree and say that we fell very short of our potential. We definitely had moments where the team flashed its full ability, and looked truly dominant, but unfortunately those did not happen at the end of the year as we needed them to.
The ladies on the other hand I think played a really consistent, high standard of football right up to their final. Given the small roster size, and so many players contributing on both offence and defence, I think they played their heart out vs the Bouncers.”

Becky:
”I was really proud of my team for getting to the Finals, and even when the W was out of sights we didn’t give up in any way.”

What are the three things you can promise (as a player/coach) Eagles fans about season 2021?
Charlie:
”1. You’ll see everyone playing with a lot of energy.
2. You’ll see a lot of big plays.
3. You’ll see results.”

Becky:
”I’m pretty sure I can 100% promise more wild runs from Essi! Personally I can promise being faster and stronger, which hopefully in turn leads to better blocks for my team and more tackles!”

Now that you know the team and the team knows you, will the off-season be totally different from last year?

Becky:
”Only different in the way that we hopefully have even more rookies and players joining us! As for the
general team dynamic, I think that will remain the same and everyone determined to get to the final again
– for the trophy ideally!”

Charlie:
”Not totally different, as of course I am hoping both teams are able to recruit new players-but of course
there will be some changes! We won’t be starting from zero as we did last year, so some of the things we
took time with last season we can take quickly, we can focus on things that maybe we had to skip or do
quickly, take more time with technique because we know the scheme. So things will be familiar for the
players, but probably presented in a different manner.”

What are the main focuses off-season?

Becky:
”Team wide, I think our focus will be on fixing the basics, fundamentals, general speed and fitness; which
will make sure our “bread and butter” plays are executed how they should be plus give us room for
installing even more exciting plays too.”

Charlie:
”For the men, my focus will be on making the defence even more efficient-reviewing our games to find the things that did/did not work, finding new things to supplement ourselves with. My focus with the ladies and juniors will continue to be finding the best way to teach the fundamental skills of football- blocking, tackling, changing direction, running fast.”

Three ”pros/cons” about 2020 season defence?

Pros:
”1. We were able to play all of our players, and all of our players were able to contribute and play well.
2. We played really fun football-it is fun to be successful and make plays, and we were extremely
successful and made a lot of plays. Players, coaches and the crowd love to see guys do well!
3. We were extremely effective. We finished as D1s best defence by a wide margin, so we were
consistently able to serve the team well and keep us in games.

Cons:
1. We played a very different style of defence to what has been played in Kotka before-that means that
our players get blocked in new ways, have to cover in new ways-so there is a lot of learning and teaching
that has to come with everything we try to do.
2. We have too many good players. I am always aware that I have more than 11 good players, so trying
to play all of our guys as much as is appropriate can be a challenge.
3. Its very easy to get too involved in the little details of plays with the way I teach, and fail to see the big
picture of a play. A lot of the time I ”Failed to see the forest for the trees”.”

What are your goals as a player for next season?

Becky:
”On offence – Block better. It’s something I’ve not spent much time practicing in the past and I really want to do my part when I don’t have the ball… and obviously, more TD catches, because who doesn’t love a
little bit of the glory too. On defence – sacks!”

Do you have any plans for winter time in Finland? (off-football)

Charlie: ”More ice swimming/convince Erkko Saarinen that ice swimming is fun.”
Becky: ”Hopefully to explore some of the national parks nearby, and if it’s a cold winter then I expect to be dragged into some sauna and ice swimming with the team.”

Was the decision to sign the contract easy for you?

Charlie:
”Extremely easy. Essi and Nesi made it clear that we were wanted here, they made it clear that they want the Eagles to get better and told me the ways that they expect to do that. I definitely have a sense of unfinished business with both teams here, that I would like to change.”

What you miss most about living in Britain?

Charlie:
”Friends and family. The ongoing health crisis means that unfortunately we aren’t sure when we’ll be able
to go back and visit without having to quarantine for two weeks on returning to Finland.”

Becky:
”The three F’s Family. Friends. kFc.”

Any other words?

Becky:
”If you’re reading this and not getting involved in football – what are you waiting for?! Look out for our recruitment days coming up and join us for 2021. Even if you can’t play, there are different roles such as coaching or general staff that we rely on to keep the team growing!”

Charlie:
”Thank you all our amazing fans and sponsors, and most of all the players, for the great 2020 season.
2021 will be even better.”

– Lauri Luukkonen ja Essi Söderholm