The Westlock Thunderbirds are looking forward to a new football season, but this year’s registration numbers are down so low, the future is looking questionable.
After two registration nights in Westlock, only four bantam-aged players signed up to play and 21 high school players came out to be Thunderbirds. Coach Jon Kramer remembers a time when more than twice that many kids were coming out for the team, but he’s not panicking.
“Two springs ago we came in with 53 kids and that was before bantam, but we allowed Grade 9s to practice with us, so we were scrambling for equipment. It was just nuts. We lost 12 kids for this spring, so numbers have been going down,” he said.
Kramer said he would like to see registration numbers in the mid-30s to field a competitive team. It is possible to field a team with less, but it hard on the players over the course of the season.
Team staff are holding two more registration nights this week — one at R.F. Staples April 9 and one at Barrhead Composite High School April 11. Both start at 6:30 and run until 8 p.m.
“We’re trying to figure it out. I know money is tight for people and we do our best to be affordable. We own all our own equipment, but we understand that every dollar adds up” said Kramer, adding transportation costs are also reduced with the use of the Thunderbirds’ bus for road games.
To be eligible to play in the fall, players must attend a spring training camp, which costs $75, to cover insurance through Football Alberta, said Kramer. There are also costs for equipment like girdles and mouth guards, about another $45.
“It’s a cheap way to try it out,” he said.
For the fall season, registration costs another $400, which helps cover transportation costs.
“Parents aren’t driving, compared to a lot of sports it’s still a good deal for what you’re getting,” said Kramer.
He also stresses the Thunderbirds are a regional team. The team is encouraging high school and bantam-aged boys and girls from Athabasca, Barrhead, Onoway, Boyle and the entire region to consider football as their fall sport of choice. Even home-schooled students are welcome to join the team.
Football is about a lot more than just the competitive aspect of the sport too, said Kramer. There’s a lot of character-building that goes on as well.
“We put a big priority on getting your life in order, making sure you’re doing school, work, family, all those things, so for a lot of kids we’ve seen join over the years, it’s been that trigger to get friends, get community, get some order and structure and some passion and it has just been incredible to see these kids graduate and years after they’ve graduated to see how football helped them out.
“I really love the sport in that it teaches a lot of personal discipline and accountability and respect. The thing I love is if somebody mouths off to a ref in football it’s a 15-yard penalty as opposed to some of the other sports out there where it is part of the game,” said Kramer, who is optimistic the numbers will come through for this season.
