The Great Britain American Football national programme have confirmed their head coaches for the Development and Academy contact teams. Adam Lillis is named Great Britain Development Head Coach and Michael Davies is named Great Britain Academy Head Coach.
Following the confirmation of Great Britain Men’s and Women’s head coaches earlier this month, the national programme are excited to appoint Adam Lillis and Michael Davies to head coaching roles within the new programme structure.
As part of the programme’s restructure, the Great Britain Academy (formerly U17) team will extend its age range to 18 years of age, allowing the side more flexibility in its fixtures and opening opportunities to compete against U16, U17 and U18 teams.
Great Britain Development replaces Great Britain U19 and will focus on progressing athletes from the Academy to the Men’s Performance team, training alongside the programme’s other Performance teams while participating in competitive international fixtures.
Both the Academy and the Development teams will be connected closely with BAFA’s U19 Regional Series, which provides 11-a-side contact camps and fixtures between five regional franchises across the UK.
Having coached at BUCS (University of Kent Falcons, City University Wolfpack), domestic league (East Kent Mavericks) and national programme level (Great Britain Men), Adam Lillis brings a wealth of positional and head coaching experience to the Development team. Lillis was also named Adult Contact Coach of the Year at the 2024 BAFCA Coaching Awards.
“To have the opportunity to lead a Great Britain team in 2026 is a real privilege and an honour,” Lillis said.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Kev as the Men’s Performance head coach and having an impact on this new pathway; being able to take young players from the Academy team, progress them and hopefully get them out of the Development squad as soon as possible and into the Performance squad.
“The goal is that Coach Davies will coach up these players in the Academy and when they reach 18, they’re in a really good shape to join Development. Any young player that comes in is going to be well coached, and coached consistently in a way that mirrors what we do at the next level, and the level after that.
“It’s such a developmental jump from even an elite 18 year old to compete with players in their prime, so to be able to plug in a new programme that really fits for these 18-24 year olds is a really good opportunity.
“Some of our younger players clearly have high ceilings, and I’m looking forward to spending a few years with them, making them future Performance players, and also giving them really good opportunities and experiences prior to joining the Performance team.”
Michael Davies continues in his role leading Great Britain’s youngest contact age group, having been head coach of Great Britain U17 and now the Great Britain Academy.
Davies is also an active coach in BUCS (University of Warwick Wolves) and the British Mixed Adult Premiership (Coventry Phoenix), and will again fulfil a pivotal role bringing 11-a-side football to some of the UK’s most promising talent.
“It’s great to be recognised for the hard work that we’ve put in to develop players, create pathways and push people from a young age to get involved in football and take them up to the next step,” Davies commented.
“The visibility of the pathway is hugely important and understanding how to get from your club level football into a national programme. Understanding how the different routes link together, whether that’s the Great Britain Academy, the U19 Regional Series, or BUCS, it’s important that that pathway is visible and accessible to everyone.
“Everything we do is about development, and creating that pathway up. The earlier we can get players on board and into the programme the better. If we can bring them into 11-a-side football at 14 years of age, by the time they reach 18 they’ve had four years of experience using the same terminology, the same types of playbooks, understanding the coaches and knowing the coaching they’ll be progressing up to.”
The national programme extends its thanks to the staff and volunteers leaving the programme for their hard work, passion and commitment to the growth of Great Britain’s teams.
The Great Britain National Programme will be welcoming new players across all of its contact teams in 2026!
Full details of trials for Great Britain Men’s and Women’s Performance, Development and Academy will be shared shortly. Dates for these trials can be found below:
Great Britain Men’s Performance, Women’s Performance, Men’s Development – 24 January at University of Derby
Great Britain Academy – 31 January at University of Salford and 7 February at SGS College, Filton