Monaghan’s Rory Beggan says he’s ready to go “full throttle” in his pursuit of an NFL contract, insisting that it’s “not a tick-box train”.
Beggan, Down goalkeeper Charlie Smyth, Wicklow’s Mark Jackson and ex-Connacht rugby participant Darragh Chief, will compete on the NFL Mix in March.
Beggan, 31, admits leaving Gaelic soccer has been “exhausting to wrestle with” as he embarks on a brand new chapter.
“It is an unbelievable alternative,” Beggan instructed BBC Sport NI.
“[It’s] one thing that hasn’t come round too typically in Irish quarters.
“You are taking a look at Dan Whelan on the minute, who’s nailing it with Inexperienced Bay [Packers] and that is one thing that we wish to do.
“We’re not going over right here to simply tick a field, to say we’ve got been on the NFL Mix, that is not what we try to do. We’re going over right here to try to get a contract and attempt to grow to be top-of-the-line 32 kickers on the earth.
“It is not a tick-box train or a bucket listing, we’re going over right here to succeed.”
Beggan has been coaching thrice per week for the previous six months underneath Tadhg Chief (Darragh’s brother), the Irish-born former rugby union participant who heads a venture devoted to introducing Irish sportspeople to American soccer.
Together with Smyth, Jackson and Chief, he’ll journey to Florida for a coaching camp earlier than being put by means of their paces in entrance of NFL scouts on the mix at Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis on 3 March.
Affirmation of Beggan, Smyth, Jackson and Chief’s inclusion within the NFL’s Worldwide Participant Pathway (IPP) follows the shock information earlier this week that Wales rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit can be chasing an NFL contract.