ADEN Durde is aiming to become the first ever Brit to win the Super bowl this Sunday as the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots.
But his journey to the top isn’t just a first for Britain, it’s remarkably different from the typical route.
His coaching career began back home in an amateur division, helping coach London Warriors.
But Durde referred to the volunteers early on in his life as major factors in getting to where he has, glazing the impact of former coach Geoff O’Driscoll.
Durde told BBC Sports: “Those people, that work as volunteers, they help kids from areas [where they] maybe don’t have the funds to do something. They literally change people’s lives, and Geoff has done that for me.”
He also credited his coaches for not only shaping him as a player, but highlighted their influence on how he grew up and lessons he learned to apply to other aspects of life.
“Geoff, [long-time British coach] Tony Allen, those guys are pivotal in where I am (in the sport), but also where I am as a man. I didn’t have many male role models growing up and to see these guys helping people, not asking for credit, always turning up… it’s huge.”
But Durde didn’t jump straight into coaching after retirement from playing, with the Brit taking care of his two children whilst his wife was in training to be a midwife.
He didn’t become Defensive Coordinator at any club until 2011 when he took the role at London Warriors, instead starting a business helping children who had fallen out of the education system.
The coaching star reveals it was never about preparing to be part of a coaching team at the time, but that it was about giving back.
Durde told BBC Sports: “At first, it was nothing to do with professional coaching, it was doing what other guys had done for me.”
The two teams set to feature in the final won a combined 28 games across the season with 14 wins each, with the showpiece of the sport set to have it’s epic conclusion for the season. These two also met only once in the postseason before, dating back to early 2015.
The high flying Seattle Seahawks may be favourites for the competition, but this fixture is anyones. The title of unlikely champion would be dished out to either team to win one of the biggest prizes in US sport. The odds for this being the showpiece were at 4800/1, not a bet worth even considering it was so low.
But a superb defensive record that Durde has been instrumental in assembling has pushed them into the position of favourites to pick up the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday.
