After years of planning, fundraising and receiving support from local business, the Weyburn Minor Football Association will officially open their new football field this fall. The new football field will serve as an extra place for the minor football teams to practice, plus since it will have lights, the field will also have the option of hosting some night games.
“Over the past winter and spring, the Minor Football association has been planning and collecting supplies for the next step of the field growth,” said Jody Kerr, president of Weyburn Minor Football.
Some of the local community businesses that provided financial assistance, or other support, included the City of Weyburn, the Saskatchewan Roughriders football club, Barber Motors, and the Southeast Cornerstone School Division.
“Everyone has been working together and everyone has been doing their part,” said Kerr. “The plan for the Weyburn Minor Football is to have our new field operational for practices and some games this fall.”
A major social event is being planned for Saturday, August 19, which will kick off the 2017 regular season for all the minor football teams. Weyburn Minor Football is working with other provincial partners for this event and more details will be released during the summer.
The Weyburn Minor Football Association will host a few new fundraising initiatives this year. They are planning for three bottle drives, one already held on registration night, one to be held on their opening weekend in August and the last one to be held when all equipment is returned in November.
They are also planning for a ‘Half Time’ ball toss where, at each home game they have during the fall, they will have a ball toss towards centre field, with a game day sponsor and a prize for whoever reaches the mark.
The Weyburn Minor Football Association is looking to be very strong for the amount of players who registered to play for the 2017 season. This year marked the first time that the organization used online registration through Team Snap, and it was a smooth transition.
In the atom division of minor football, they have 26 players registered for the upcoming season. Atom football is the first opportunity for children to learn how to play tackle football, with an emphasis on safe tackling and first contact. Atom football competes at the house level. This group practices two days a week from the end of August until the beginning of October.
In the peewee division of minor football, they have a current enrolment of 53 children, which means there will be two full teams representing Weyburn. The peewee division competes in the Moose Jaw Minor Football League. It is the first opportunity for full-on football for children in the community.
Registration for both the atom and peewee divisions are still open. Interested families can still register for either division up to the start of the 2017 season. Online registration is available at the Minor Football website.
There was major growth in the bantam division during the past few years. There are currently 52 players registered for the bantam division, which competes in the Moose Jaw Minor Football League. The registration for this program is now closed.
All divisions start practicing late August. The peewee and bantam divisions typically play their first games of the season around the September long weekend.
