New season set to start
By Melissa Piche Times Contributor
The Strathmore Community Football Association (SCFA) is gearing up to start their 2023 season on Aug. 14 and president Doug Thiessen is anticipating a large player turnout.
The program is designed for anyone aged 10 through high school aged who want to play football. Kids as young as nine are able to participate in practices only and are encouraged to come out and take part.
“Games are on Saturdays,” said Thiessen. “We practice Monday to Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.” at the Crowther Memorial Junior High School football field.
All the gear is supplied aside from their cleats; however, if a player was in need of a pair, they have many donated lightly used cleats. Bussing to away games is provided to all players. From a financial perspective the football program offers players and their families the best bang for their buck as the registration cost has been kept fairly low compared to other organized sports.
“In our best year we were up to 35 kids in the peewee program and 25 kids in bantam,” said Thiessen. “COVID hurt us and we want to get those numbers back up because it’s much easier and more fun to play when you have more teammates.”
Thiessen says last season the numbers were looking better with close to 28 in peewee and about 20 in bantam.
“To me, I always say football is the ultimate team sport in that everybody is needed. We take every type of body and put them to use and everybody is important to the success of the team,” he said. “It teaches really good teamwork and tends to teach some discipline. For a lot of kids, it teaches leadership as they develop into their roles as we get the experienced kids to help with the inexperienced kids.”
The association is on top of injury prevention and concussion protocol as their team trainers are qualified to handle these situations.
“The training has changed over the years to remove more of the head from contact,” said Thiessen. “I’m not saying there aren’t injuries, but it is very controlled and we are very cognizant of the concerns around injuries, especially head injuries.”
A huge part of the SCFA fundraising is through their highly anticipated badger discount card. The players will again be canvasing the streets of Strathmore in September. The cards are $20 each and basically pay for themselves after the first use at many local businesses.
The organization fundraises for things like bussing, maintaining equipment and field upkeep.
The association was formed in 1998 when the senior (high school aged) team was started at the Strathmore High School. The bantam program was established in 2000 and the pee wee program followed in 2009.
Thiessen has been part of the program in either a coaching capacity, board member role, or as both for 13 years. Thiessen is also a ref for football, and when he isn’t coaching the peewee program here in Strathmore, he can be found traveling around Alberta heading to the next football field as a referee.
As with many youth organized sports, volunteers are essential to the organization.
“We’re always open to people that want to volunteer,” he said. “We can also help people that want to ref or learn to ref. There’s always (an) opportunity for refs to get trained up and take the courses.”
For more information, people can visit the SCFA website (www.scfabadgers.ca) or contact Thiessen directly at 403-390-9303.