With minor football on the verge of collapse in Innisfail, Kim Thompson still had tremendous faith in her community.
Members of the Innisfail Minor Football Association gathered last week on March 28 for a special emergency meeting because of a lack of coaches, players, and volunteers for the upcoming season. The bantam and peewee football programs were on were on the verge of folding without more community involvement.
Thompson, who is the IMFA vice president said the support has been tremendous and at the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided the 2018 season would go ahead in August.
“I had a lot of faith in my town. My family and I have been part of football for eight years. I always felt we had the team and we’ve always had people step up. I wasn’t too worried,” she said.
“I was very grateful… it’s nice to know that there’s a new life– a new board and we can get some new ideas going and try and grow our program.”
Thompson said while the numbers are a bit low in terms of player participation, filling all the executive board and volunteer positions was a huge step forward. They also have six certified coaches with three more expected to be ready by the time players hit the field this summer.
“With our volunteers and everyone stepping into play, we hope to start our season as planned. Three weeks in June we’ll do spring training and then they’re off until the middle of August when they take the field and start practicing more. The season starts after Labour Day weekend,” She said.
Player numbers are still low for the bantam age group, she figures they have about 10 players signed up. The atom age group is above the 18 players required to field a team and the peewee age group is closing in on the 25 needed.
“When you’re looking at Bantam which is a bit rougher, because these are bigger kids that are hitting harder – (Football Alberta) wants us to have 25 on the team. Hopefully, we can move forward because to put 16 or 17 kids out, I don’t think it’s even safe,” Thompson said.
Thompson also added that in the last year the IMFA also received their “society” status, meaning they could hold bingos and other fundraising activities that would help pay for field time and new equipment.
“That’s a huge achievement, it would be a shame after all we’ve done, to have had to close our program. It would have been heartbreaking,” she said.
While Thompson understands some families might be apprehensive about football because of injuries or missing out on other sports, she said for her family the experience has been top notch.
“Getting the families involved, because out of all the sports my boys play, our passion is football. It’s an amazing sport. It’s all about a sense of team. The brothers my boys play with, they call them their brothers… they’ll do anything for them,” she said.
The organization is still looking for a coaching director and players interested in the league can register at www.innisfailminorfootball.com.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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