American FOOTALBALL – The Notermans family from Tynaarlo may have two national champions richer on Sunday. Father Pytrik and son Mart are preparing with their American Football team Groningen Giants for the Tulip Bowl. In this Dutch version of the American Super Bowl, Amsterdam Crusaders is the opponent.
Pytrik Notermans (49) is responsible at Groningen Giants for coaching the defense. As a player he was a Linebacker, a position in the defensive team. Son Mart can also play this role. “Sport is really in our family. All our children exercise a lot. Football, break dance and therefore American Football,” father Pytrik sums up.
Son Mart was raised that last sport. “When I was about 13 years old, I participated in the juniors for a season,” says 19-year-old Mart. “After that I started doing some other sports, but since last year I have been back at the American Football,” says the American Football player, who can play both Safety and Linebacker.
The difference between the two periods of Mart is huge. “We used to train once with twenty people. We now have ten coaches and a selection of 65 players.”
Pytrik is one of the coaches at Groningen Giants who is responsible for a specific part. The overall coaching is in the hands of the American Sam Peek. “He is really an asset to the team,” says Pytrik. “Peek brings a lot of experience. Our level has really gone up.”
Mart adds: “Giants has never been one of the top clubs in the Netherlands, they have played in the first division for a long time. But they started to focus on attracting more people. In a student city like Groningen that also attracts some foreigners.”
For Groningen Giants it is the first participation in the Tulip Bowl. The team is the underdog, also because opponent Amsterdam Crusades is still unbeaten this season. The earlier two confrontations this season between the two teams were won by the Amsterdammers.
“I don’t see winning very quickly, but we’ll show on Sunday that we will be better at the game at times,” Mart concludes.