Big-time beckons for young American Football star
14:52, 21 April 2006
FORMER Kent schoolboy Rhys Lloyd has been given another chance to make his professional breakthrough in American Football.
The son of former Dover Athletic footballer Bryn Lloyd, 23-year-old Rhys has signed a two-year contract as a kicker with the Green Bay Packers, the Wisconsin club who have won the Super Bowl three times.
A year ago, Rhys signed for the Baltimore Ravens but he was cut before the NFL season started and spent the winter working on his fitness in the hope of finding another club. It paid off when he was offered a trial by the Packers.
Bryn said: "They offered him a two-year contract straight afterwards, which he was delighted to accept. I think he deserves it.
"He was left in limbo a bit after being cut by the Ravens, but I fixed him up with a personal trainer during the winter and he has been working really hard on his core fitness and leg strength for the past three months. He is now kicking an extra five yards."
Rhys moved to the States in 1997 when Bryn took a soccer coaching job in Minnesota, and it was while he was studying at the University of Minnesota that Rhys first made national headlines in American Football.
Playing against Oregon in the final of the Sun Bowl in front of 50,000 in El Paso, Texas, he kicked a 42-yard field goal with 23 seconds left to snatch victory for Minnesota.
Like his father, Rhys was also a talented soccer player and was on Chelsea’s books as a youngster.
However, now a lucrative career in the NFL beckons. His starting salary will be about $250,000, but that will rise substantially if Rhys can claim the No 1 kicking spot in the team this season.
At the moment, that looks set to go to another of the Packers’ new signings, Billy Cundiff, who was the Dallas Cowboys’ first-choice kicker for the past five seasons.
However Bryn, who is now living with wife Denise in Florida, where he has set up his own soccer coaching consultancy, said: "Billy Cundiff has obviously got his NFL experience in his favour, but if Rhys can perform well in pre-season, then who knows what will happen?"
