Prince Albert Minor Football adapting to new challenges after lower registration

“There’s always historically been a bit of a tug of war for those Grade 9 players. That should be the dividing line, like Grade 9 should be high school, and then that eliminates that whole tug of war. So, in some ways, being forced into this little bit of restructuring is a good thing I think.”

He continued that there’s a couple of factors as to why the numbers could be dwindling.

“These kids are kind of coming out of COVID where for two years, they weren’t used to much physical activity. And so, unfortunately, many of them aren’t, being as active as they should be because that’s just the lifestyle that they’ve known and gotten accustomed to,” Kachkowski said, noting the recent success of the Saskatchewan Roughriders would have normally resulted in an uptick in registration.

“Another reason I think that is the case, everybody is trying to register their kids into other programs. We run a spring season and a fall season, and my understanding is there’s another sports program in Prince Albert that’s now not only running a spring season and a fall season, but they’re running a summer season as well. So obviously, that kind of draws players away.”

Rather than a typical league style format, the River Riders will be operating alongside a handful of other communities and their football programs for an annual six-man jamboree every Sunday. The first happened on Sept. 13 in Delisle with Prince Albert hosting this past weekend at Wendell Whitter Field, as other participating communities include Porcupine Plain, North Battleford, and Shellbrook.

Despite the drastic changes from years prior, Kachkowski said the premise remains the same.

“Whether it’s six-man, nine-man, or 12-man, the basic skills are the same, right? We’re still teaching them the basics that they need to play the game and hopefully continue playing through their eligibility at our level, and of course, move on to further success at the high school level and beyond.”

The jamborees also feature a competition known as Pass, Punt and Kick, where athletes see how far they can pass, punt, and kick a football. A regional championship is slated for Oct. 10 at Wendell Whitter Field in Prince Albert before a provincial championship on the weekend of Oct. 17 in Saskatoon.

There, the 24 provincial winners, one boy and one girl for each event in each age group, will be awarded with a partially paid trip to the Riders final home game of the season on Oct. 24 in Regina against the Edmonton Elks, where they will receive plaques in honour of their achievements during the pre-game program.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Prince Albert Minor Football adapting to new challenges after lower registration

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