Minor football struggles with numbers

Olds Minor Football is facing a number crunch for the second year in a row that could lead to ending the Bantam Bulldogs' season before they even hit the field.

"We're in a more ominous situation this year," said Blake Machan, who coaches the bantam program. "We're basically at a point where, if we don't get more registrations in within the next week or so, we are going to be in a position where we don't actually have a program."

The Bulldogs, who play in the Central Alberta Bantam Football League, are supposed to start the season with a camp on Aug. 21, but with registration currently sitting at a dozen, and some 10 veteran players who haven't yet recommitted, things are up in the air.

"If all of the stars sort of aligned right now, we'd be in that 20 range," said Machan. "But we're really looking for another 10 kids to make sure we have enough."

Last year the bantam program faced a similar situation, and ended up joining forces with Innisfail, whose numbers were also low.

"We ended up only coming together two days before our first game, and we don't want to end up in that situation again," said Machan. "The season is upon us and we are trying to put things together, but struggling a bit."

Machan said, historically, the numbers within the minor football programs haven't been large to begin with, which lends itself to somewhat of a catch-22.

"It's constantly been that struggle to get the numbers," he said. "And with that, you don't breed tradition, you don't breed a culture that continues to drive people into the organization." "Sometimes you just have communities where certain sports aren't people's cup of tea and it's not something that really drives them and they are passionate about. "As a group of football people it's disappointing but you can only do so much to get people engaged," said Machan.

Regardless, Machan hopes to find enough players to field a side, and says football is a great game for drawing in different types of athletes.

"It has the ability to accommodate a lot of different skill sets and sizes," he said. "You have linemen who are your bigger bodies, all the way to your running backs, quarterbacks and then wide receivers, corners, who are sort of smaller bodies."

In addition, he said there's room for people to play more than one sport, and that the season is mostly completed before hockey laces up.

"Growing up in Rocky, I played baseball, I played hockey, I played golf and I played football," he said. "A person can do all those things and still find a place on the field in football."

There's also room on the field for veteran and rookie players, as well as for both boys and girls.

"We have some kids who have Ö been with us for a couple years, and we get kids that it's their first time out on the football field," he said.

Machan said one of the things that might cause a hesitation in popping on a helmet is the current conversation around concussions and contact in football.

"One thing that's relevant is that we are adjusting how we coach and how we work through our practices to try and mitigate some of those risks associated with contact," said Machan. "We are trying to be as progressive as possible around how much hitting we do in our practices."

He added that if there are people with concerns, the organization welcomes those conversations.

While the bantam program is struggling, the Peewee Huskies are set to begin season training this week, but are on the lookout for more players aged 9-12 to round out their roster as well.

MORE: For more information about Olds Minor Football search for them on Facebook at @oldsfootball or go to www.oldsfootball.ca.