The annual Global Bowl series featuring a traveling squad of high school student-athletes will head to Spain this spring as Team Stars & Stripes takes in the sights of Cataluña.
Global Bowl Spain will see the select roster, known as Team Stars & Stripes drawn from multiple states, travel across the Atlantic to Barcelona from March 22 to 30. They will face a Cataluña junior team (19-and-under) under head coach Bill Gallagher of Episcopal Academy in Pennsylvania.
The Global Bowl series has been contested previously in Japan (2008 and 2009), France / Belgium (2010), Germany (2011) and Italy (2012 and 2013). As part of the cultural experience of the visit to Spain, Team Stars & Stripes will enjoy the sights of Barcelona and the Catalan region before taking on the Cataluña representative team (venue and kickoff time to be confirmed).
“We are delighted that Spain will host the seventh annual Global Bowl,” said Global Football President Patrick Steenberge. “We have undertaken many successful tours to this wonderful country with NCAA D-III teams, and the people of Cataluña always welcome us with open arms. We will again work closely with Marco Guirles there, a former national coach of NFL Europe’s Barcelona Dragons. This will be another journey of a lifetime for the young men on the Team Stars & Stripes roster.”
Head coach Bill Gallagher played in the same backfield as Global Football President Patrick Steenberge at the University of Notre Dame and has traveled with Global Football to France, Germany, Italy and Ireland. The majority of his coaching career has been spent in Philadelphia’s Inter Academic Athletic Association, the oldest schoolboy league in the country.
“I’m honored to be coaching this team,” said Gallagher, who is currently a Spanish teacher at Episcopal Academy and was previously an assistant coach for Team Stars & Stripes. “Taking on the head coaching role is not a big difference because the players are still ambassadors in another country and we will all want to represent ourselves, our schools and country in the right way. They are going to be somewhat under a microscope when we have our Team Stars & Stripes gear on everywhere we go.”
Assembling a junior select team from multiple schools and states presents challenges on the practice field, but Gallagher is confident his roster will come together successfully as a unit.
He added: “You’re trying to make sure the players understand the game plan and are football ready and can apply the basic offense and defense we will run. We’re not teaching techniques. It is good for the kids to pick up what we’re doing and then let their individual skills come out.
“But this game is not all about the football. Academically it is great that they get to see things such as the Dali Museum, enjoy some fantastic sights, and travel to a new country.
John Storey of Villa-Angela St. Joseph High School in Cleveland, OH, has coached in each of the six previous Global Bowl games and will again head overseas with Global Football, bringing with him student-athletes from Cleveland schools.
“This visit will make memories that last a lifetime for the traveling student-athletes,” said Storey. “It is one thing to read about a country overseas and its history in books, but to see in the flesh is another thing altogether.
“The first group of guys from my school went to Japan with Global Football in 2008 and some are still in contact via email with their Japanese host families and we still remember the fondness the local people had for our team. That is why these Global Bowl games are so special. They still talk about that and ask me where we are going each year with Team Stars & Stripes and they still have an anecdote or a historical fact that they remember from when they traveled.
“On the field, we have to keep things simple and will run a 4-3 defense and offensively run the basic plays and try to go wide. We will take four plays formation wise and a couple of pass plays and the guys can be innovative after that.”
Team Stars & Stripes Coaching Staff
Head Coach:
Bill Gallagher, Episcopal Academy, Philadelphia, PA,
Assistant Coaches:
John Storey, Villa-Angela St. Joseph High School, Cleveland, OH
Dean Greenberg, Mountain View High School, Tucson, AZ
John Florio, Cardinal O’Hara, Philadelphia, PA
Bill Gallagher – Head Coach
The majority of his coaching career has been spent in Philadelphia’s Inter Academic Athletic Association, the oldest schoolboy league in the country at Chestnut Hill Academy, 19 years at William Penn Charter School, and Episcopal Academy. In addition to being a member of several of those schools’ athletic Hall of Fames, in April 2012 he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He currently coaches with the Philadelphia Little Quakers, a famous youth All Star Team.
John Storey – Assistant Coach
Storey has enjoyed a successful coaching career that spans almost 50 years. He was named 2013 Liberty Ford Coach of the Year to mark Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s spectacular turnaround, from one win in 2012 to a 9-2 campaign, and an appearance in the Ohio Division VI playoffs. Currently in his second spell as head coach at his alma mater, Storey coached the Vikings from 1991 to 1993 after serving as a longtime assistant and returned to lead VASJ in 2009, reaching the playoffs in 2011. He and Patrick Steenberge first met when Storey was an assistant at John Carroll University as they traveled to Spain in 1997. He has tutored several future NFL players, among them Bob Golic, Mike Golic, Desmond Howard and London Fletcher.
Dean Greenberg – Assistant Coach
The offensive line and Special Teams Coordinator at Mountain View (AZ) High School, Dean played his college ball at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He has spent the past decade coaching and mentoring young men throughout Tucson, including at Salpointe Catholic and Sabino High Schools, on and off the football field. Dean’s volunteer coaching efforts remain his passion and this will be his third years as a member of the Team Stars & Stripes coaching staff. Dean is a prominent member of the Tucson business community and utilizes his vast knowledge and experience to integrate his message of success in life through football.
John Florio – Assistant Coach
Florio coaches running backs and linebackers at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Philadelphia, PA, where the Lions finished with a 4-5 record in 2013. He was a member of the 2013 Team Stars & Stripes coaching staff at Global Bowl Italy.
History of Team Stars & Stripes games (high school age team)
2008
GE Global Challenge Bowl
Kawasaki, Japan
Japan U-19 National Team 24- Team Stars & Stripes 14
2009
Global Challenge Bowl
Kawasaki, Japan
Japan U-19 National Team 38 -Team Stars & Stripes 21
2010
Global Bowl France
Amiens, France
Brussels All-Stars 0-Team Stars & Stripes 83
2011
Global Bowl Germany
Munich, Germany
Munich Cowboys Juniors 0-Team Stars & Stripes 34
2012
Global Bowl Italy
Rome, Italy
Italian U-19 National Team 0-Team Stars & Stripes 50
2013
Global Bowl Torino
Torino, Italy
Italian U-19 National Team 0-Team Stars & Stripes 67
Since 1996 when Global Football President Patrick Steenberge first crossed borders, the Texas-based company has organized tours and events in 21 different countries on six continents and 2014 will feature seven more adventures of a lifetime for student athletes, coaches and families. In a landmark year for Global Football, 2014 will also feature rugby and soccer teams visiting Europe during the annual spring travel period from March through June. For more information regarding an opportunity to take part in GIFT 2014, contact Patrick Steenberge: Tel: 817-219-7274 / Email: Patrick@GlobalFootball.com