The Lac La Biche Huskies high-school football team may not play for a second consecutive season unless a new head coach can be found.
The Lac La Biche Huskies high-school football team may not play for a second consecutive season unless a new head coach can be found.
The Lac La Biche Amateur Football Association's bantam team is set to go ahead, but the senior high-school Huskies are in desperate need of a coach, according to the association's president and former long-time coach, Frank Collins.
"That pretty much needs to be figured out right now," said Collins. "The reality is that most high-school leagues have set their schedule, so every day that there is a delay, the less likely that it is to get in."
High-school football in Alberta usually starts in August, with a training camp in late May or early June. With no teachers available to fill volunteer coaching spots, Collins is looking for prospects from the community who may have some experience, a process that was successful for locating some ex-players currently running the bantam program.
"There might be some guys living up here who have coached before or have played at some level somewhere else," Collins said. While there are coaching clinics available for those without experience, he said time may be running out on that too.
"Those are starting to pass us by... coming in green with nothing to run a program, that's really tough," he said, adding that he doesn't know how many kids would be involved this year. "We didn't want to start banging on the drums for the high-school kids until we knew if we had a coach or not," Collins said.
The Huskies were left adrift last season when a head coach was hired but left before the season started.
"The coach ran spring training and then he left town," Collins said. "We had to fold the program because there's nobody to coach for the season."
Collins, who was the coach of the team from its inception for 16 years, said that football is a rewarding experience for kids because it teaches teamwork and discipline.
"Football, no-one has to quote me on this, you can do the research and everything, but it is considered to be the ultimate team sport," he said. "It doesn't matter what position you play at, there's a great deal of technical expertise involved in each position... The only way that kids are going to get it is through practice and playing."
Collins said that coaching football can be rewarding. "I can go over the years and look at the relationships that I have built as a coach," he said. "If you want to make a difference in a kid's life, coach a sport."
For more information on volunteering, contact Collins at (780) 623-0761.
