BRITISH BULLDOGS PAY VISIT ENGLISH LEARN ABOUT AMERICAN FOOTBALL.Byline: JILL PAINTER Staff Writer PASADENA -- The Rose Bowl was a classroom for the Great Britain Great Britain, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain. Bulldogs on Saturday. The Bulldogs, a football team from England, arrived in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. last week hoping to learn a more about the fundamentals, technique and strategy of the game. Football -- American football, that is -- isn't a popular sport in England Sport plays a prominent role in English life. The most popular team sport is football (soccer), followed by cricket, rugby union and rugby league. Major individual sports include athletics, tennis, golf, motorsport, and horseracing. , and there aren't many opportunities to learn the game. So, every other year, coach Graham Thorpe Graham Paul Thorpe MBE (born August 1 1969 in Farnham, Surrey) is an English cricketer who played for Surrey and England. Naturally right-handed in everything but batting, when he was six years old Thorpe changed his stance to make it harder for his two elder brothers to get puts together a team of all-stars, ranging from 22- to 31-years-old, to learn more about the game in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Two years ago, Thorpe's team studied at Cal. UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX was the Bulldogs' choice this year. ``The whole purpose of this trip is because the game is in its infancy in England,'' Thorpe said. ``We're trying to look at the way guys practice and perform and to test ourselves against Division III teams and independent teams. Two years ago, Menlo (College) beat us 48-14. This year, we tied Whittier 7-7. I feel we're moving at a rapid pace.'' Thorpe brought 16 staff members, 52 players and nine coaches. Players stayed in dormitories at UCLA. They practiced and had a scrimmage at Claremont College. They watched the Bruins practice last week and were given tickets to Saturday's game against Utah. ``This experience is remarkable,'' said safety Andrew Giblin, 31. ``Practice is so crisp and professional. From that aspect, this is staggering compared to what we're used to at home. What's amazing is what we can accomplish.'' It wasn't all about work. Players went to Magic Mountain and Universal Studios. They even thought they had a celebrity sighting. ``A girl on our bus thought she saw Brad Pitt, but I think she was pulling our leg,'' Giblin said. |
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