CARSTAIRS — Plans to launch a new high school football team in Carstairs recently hit a bit of a snag with the discovery that the helmets the team hoped to use are out-of-date and therefore unusable.
Now, organizers are putting out the call for anyone with a current helmet or helmets available for loan or donation to come forward, says designated head coach Steve Saunders.
A retired police officer, Saunders coached high school football for 24 years in Nova Scotia and now is helping spearhead the creation of the team in Carstairs.
He explained that the original plan was to use the helmets previously used by the former Carstairs Tigers community Bantam team.
“I got to see the equipment last week and found that every single helmet, even through they look new, had expired because they are 15 years old,” said Saunders.
“Right now we are looking for 25 or 30 helmets. We are looking to get whatever we can. Anything at all would be great. If someone wants to give them to us that would be great.”
The hope is to launch the new Carstairs team – called the Hugh Sutherland Kodiaks – in September. It will be open to players in Grades 9 to 12.
About 20 potential players have already come forward to express an interest in joining, he said, noting that the Hugh Sutherland School already has a football field with goal posts available for use by the new team.
Anyone with a helmet or helmets to loan or donate to the new team can call Saunders at 902-580-2550.
