So many times the dream and our
reality are vastly different. It is certainly true in Tyler Ames’ case, but his
current reality is somewhat of a dream, and it certainly doesn’t resemble what
he saw for himself.
Tyler went to college as many of
us do. He figured he’d become a businessman and have the American dream-- a
wife he loved, two kids, two cars, and such. He settled on accounting and
finance at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and landed a job.
One day he became good friends
with Michio McGrath, an Australian expat who persuaded him to try his hand at
footy. Ironically, it was Tyler who helped recruit Michio to his accounting
firm. McGrath in turn spent an entire Colorado winter selling Tyler on the game
as well as on his favorite club the West Coast Eagles.
McGrath wore him down and
eventually Tyler began to play for the Denver Bulldogs, a strong American club
in Colorado.
“The moment I really bought
fully in and truly started loving the game was during the 2015 USAFL National
Championships in which I played on the Bulldogs’ Division 4 team. I had never
played in the ruck before that tournament but because of injuries I had to step
up and play the entire time. I didn’t feel like I played well but I was somehow
given the Most Consistent on ground for the tournament in Division 4. From that
point on I was motivated and driven to get good at footy,” Ames said.
Ames also thinks the camaraderie
is something special. “(In the states) we can’t play every weekend like here in
Australia so instead large tournaments are held roughly once a month during the
summer with smaller 3 or so team tournaments intermixed as well. These were where
I fell in love with not just the game of footy but with the Australian culture,
team camaraderie, and spirit. We would all stay in a hotel as a group, throw 4
guys to a room, play a full day of footy, and then go out on the town totally
beat up where the tournament was being held with the other teams. The stories
and fun from these and the relationships I developed with my teammates was what
gave me the passion and excitement to make Australia and footy a bigger part of
my life.”
Once he gained a foothold in the
game another seed grew. “The first person to even float the thought of
Australia was my now Montrose teammate Sam Nix. He was playing for the (USAFL)
Austin Crows and we were in Austin for a tournament and said I should look into
it. I then talked to a few of my Denver Bulldogs teammates and word must have
traveled through the grapevine because at the USAFL National tournament last
October, I met with Tony Fairhead from Perth and Rod Buncle of Melbourne both
of whom work with the USAFL. Tony had said they’d been looking for someone from
the US to be the first chosen to represent the USAFL in an exchange through
Darwin. I believe they wanted someone who’d embrace the full Darwin experience
and everything it had to offer,” Ames said.
Still to come: Tyler embraces the Aussie and footy experience.
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