Hill's Lions will take on the Hertfordshire Hurricanes in a prestigious British Universities American Football League title showdown at John Charles Stadium in Leeds on Saturday April 21. Kickoff is at 5pm. And that championship clash will conclude another hugely successful season for the Lions and the entire BUAFL.

Hill, who has guided the Lions to a fourth successive championship game appearance, noticed clear signs of increased popularity in American football this season, revealing: "We had a huge recruitment drive this year and carried a squad of around 90 during the first half of the year.

"Due to the nature of the sport, injuries and commitment levels, that number has reduced, but we still have a squad of around 70. And that is great."

The Lions stormed to a perfect 8-0 regular season record before dispatching with Sheffield Hallam and the Southampton Stags in the playoffs. And now they face a serious challenge in the form of Jim Messenger's Hurricanes, with many experts dubbing this as the dream final.

But, for Hill, the championship game represents just another step on the road in terms of developing his team.

"Am I happy?" Hill asked. "Yes. Satisfied? No. We have goals, development plans and a vision for the future. The wins are just part of that, but the building of the programme and seeing young men develop has to be our biggest focus.

"We still need to work on getting better in every phase of the programme, from coaching, to practices, to organisation, to strength and conditioning, to recruitment, to development opportunities, to securing and promoting our relationship with our University so we are the best sports programme on campus. So as you might see we have lots of opportunities and areas for development so I am happy to an extent."

While he already oversees one of the most well-run university programmes in the BUAFL, Hill will continue to drive his players and will continue to find ways to grow the Birmingham Lions brand - on and off the field.

He admits: "We have a short, medium and long term development plan that we have discussed with the University and they are very impressed with. In fact they are using our plan to showcase to other sports how a programme should be run and what vision a programme should have.

"We have many goals and too many to list here, but what I can say is that we will never be satisfied of where we are, we just need to develop our structure to facilitate these goals. This is why the Lions is a full-time, year-round role."

As the long BUAFL season draws to a close, Hill admits that his players have not only proven their talent this year, they have also shown themselves to be a dedicated bunch.

He explained: "Every unit has been committed to getting better in every practice session. We haven't wasted a session this season and that goes down to the focus of the players and the leadership of the veterans. As I mentioned before we have some good young talent and that will stand us in good stead for the future.

"I have been pleased with how focused we have been throughout the season. No matter what hurdle we have faced we have just got on with the football."

So with the biggest game of the year looming on the horizon, what kind of shape are the undefeated Lions in as they head to Leeds?

"We are in pretty good shape," Hill concluded. "Yes we have knocks but over the last year we have done a tremendous amount of work related to strength and conditioning and healthy eating. I really think this as helped as the veterans have really brought into it and this has filtered down to the rookies.

"We have dealt with major injuries over the last two years, losing (league MVP quarterback) Tristan Varney last year and again this year and now losing defensive end Kyle Burrows. These would be tough for any team, especially as they are both amazing players and great influences within the programme both on and off the field.

"However, both have stayed involved in the programme and we haven't made any big fuss about either injury. Football is just part of their life and all these players have a lot more ahead of them in their lives, so that is the focus every time we have an injury. I speak to players a lot and I always say that their long-term health and wellbeing is more important to me than football.

"Injuries to a programme always test your character as a team and what we have found is that leadership rises to the top and we have seen new leaders rise to the challenge each week."

After a season of seeing his players rise to the challenge, Hill will ask for one more similar effort against the Hurricanes on Saturday April 21.

Photo (c) Mike Hinton