Bantams key to football growth

RICK NORTHROP
The Prince Albert Daily Herald

Despite finishing without a win in their inaugural bantam football season, Ryan Hughes and the Prince Albert River Riders never lost their enthusiasm.

Players cheered heartily when the team got first downs and the buzzword in the dressing room was resilience. But Hughes, the River Riders head coach, knows the wins are going to have to come eventually.

“If you don’t see success, your program might falter a little bit,” said Hughes.

“It’s just a fact of life. Kids want to be successful at every aspect, whether it’s winning or it’s not.”

Getting a few games in the win column might go beyond the continued health and success of the Riders alone. For Prince Albert football to thrive and grow, the bantam team needs to be competitive. Wins snowball into a higher profile and that means more prospective players looking to sign up in fall.

“I think it’s important, because it promotes the game more at every age level,” said Hughes.

When Hughes and the rest of the River Riders’ founding partners held their first camp last year, more than 40 kids showed up. At spring camp earlier this year, 33 rookies joined 12 veterans of  last year’s club.

Healthy camp numbers are a result of two things, according to Hughes: the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Grey Cup win, and parents who once played fotball talking up the game to their kids.

“Any parent wants to promote sports to their kids, so I think we are seeing a lot of kids coming out because the parents have promoted it so positively,” said Hughes.

In the early 1980s, Prince Albert was home to a bantam football league. By the middle of the decade, the league had folded. Prior to going under, the league fed players to the high school level and the schools took advantage of the skilled, experienced players coming up.

“When I coached the senior team you would get guys that had never touched the ball,” said Hughes.

Even if everything works out, Hughes is cautious about predicting a full-blown return of a bantam league like the one Prince Albert used to enjoy.

“If the numbers start increasing it’s inevitable that another team will have to emerge, but right now we are just focused on getting the one team going,” said Hughes.

Right now he just wants to put some points on the board.

“We are just looking for success in baby steps, but that first win is going to be sweet,” said Hughes.