YORKTON - With spring in Yorkton comes spring football.
This past week nearly 100 young players were in gear honing their gridiron skills for the spring season, explained Jason Boyda one of the organizers.
Boyda explained they have three teams for spring, Grade 5/6 and a Grade 7/8 boys teams each with roughly 40 players and a female squad of 20.
“We’ve had really great attendance,” he said of the practice sessions.
As for the training, it is dual-focused.
“Our goal is to make them more athletic,” said Boyda, adding they put players through a series of drills with that in mind.
Secondly, the sessions were about playing the game as safely as possible. In that regard, Boyda said they were showing players how to tackle safely.
The practice is setting the stage for some game action beginning with Yorkton hosting a ‘jamboree’ May 11. The event will see teams from Melville, Indian Head, Fort Qu’Appelle, Preeceville, Dauphin and Lemberg in the city.
The Grade 5/6 teams play 6v6 on a smaller field with what Boyda said were roughly CFL overtime rules, with teams taking the ball at the 35 yard line and trying to score.
The Grade 7/8 play 9v9 on a full field with normal rules sans special team play.
Ultimately, Boyda said they want players to want to play the game.
“We want to get kids playing football so they fall in love with it, and want to play in the fall,” he said.
The Yorkton jamboree will be the first of a spring series.
“Hopefully each community will host a jamboree,” said Boyda.
