If you have had players registered with Football Manitoba for tackle football in the past, you may have received a link to a free pre-registration website. This pre-registration process is so that the Club and the league can gauge interest in participation in some kind of tackle program this year.
What are we offering?
At the moment with current Provincial Public Health Orders, we are proposing a practice camp. This is not like our skills camps that we’ve had in the past. Players will be in full equipment and the intention with the practice camp is to have players “game ready”. We will run these as a regular season midweek practice. The only difference will be at this early stage there will be zero contact.
The zero contact aspect will be reviewed once we receive Football Manitoba’s Return to Play document. If we are then permitted to introduce contact this will be done during the practices. It is unlikely, this summer that there will be traditional league play. The logistics involved in organising a league format is time consuming and it’s unlikely the league could be organised in the short space of time available to us. If contact is restored it is envisaged that we would play 6 v 6 against other teams within the organisation.
What do we need?
Simply put, players. For each age group to be interesting and a success we need at least 36 players in each age group. We understand, given previous roster sizes, that this is a big task, but this would allow us to have 4 teams per age group. We think that a squad size of 9 players per team, with two coaches and a trainer would let us have a good squad size and allow us to come in under the 25-person maximum for outdoor gatherings. If you register a player, please encourage their friends to sign up as well.
Speaking of coaches and trainers, we also need volunteers to fill coaches, trainers, and team manager roles to make this work. I’ve often said that most of us got involved with the Club because at one point we’ve been told “either you volunteer or there is no team for your kid to play on”. I expect this to be the reality of the situation we’ll find ourselves in this year. So, if your interested in helping out, let us know so we can arrange training.
Who can play?
Anyone born between 2008 and 2013 inclusive. We’d also encourage anyone born in 2006 and 2007 to preregister as well if you cannot play for a high school JV team.
How long will the program run?
Assuming that we don’t get more restrictions in place, we are running the program for 7 weeks starting week commencing August 9, 2021. Practices would be two nights a week on Tuesday and Thursday nights. At this time we do not anticipate any weekend play but this may change.
What are the costs?
The Club have set a fixed price for the program at $100. In addition to this there will be the Football Manitoba fee (waived if you’ve already registered for flag football with Football Manitoba this calendar year) and potentially an MMFA fee if they incur costs in assisting running these programs. Therefore, the potential cost of the program would be around about $190 + taxes. This is less than the Cruncher fees that we charged in our last full season in 2019. We understand that financial assistance would be available through Jumpstart and KidSport.
In addition to the fees we’d ask that you participate in a fundraiser.
How do players pre-register?
The link to the pre-registration page is here. Remember the pre-registration is just for gauging interest and no fees are required at this time. If you have any questions please contact the club through our contact form and we’ll do our best to answer your questions.