NANAIMO — The spring season for Football Nanaimo will have nearly 200 kids participating.
Registration is open and continues right through most of the season, which ends in June.
Football Nanaimo president Wanda Currie said they don’t have frozen rosters so the teams can add players throughout most of the season.
“We’re already actually full for JB with a wait list started. Pee wee have have two teams almost at capacity and atom we have room for about 12 more kids.”
Currie said there’s minimal equipment costs for families.
“The only thing they need to provide is cleats. We provide everything else. We have a cleat exchange program so if someone’s coming in and they don’t have cleats we typically have quite a few pairs especially in the younger ages.”
No experience is necessary to join Football Nanaimo teams with Currie noting in their fall season they had some players who had never played before even on their older midget squads.
Practices will start weather permitting at the end of February with games running through April and May. Each team practices twice a week at the beginning of the season and there is an additional practice added later in the spring session.
There is no provincial championship for tackle football in the spring but there is a Vancouver Island championship.
Currie said there were provincials in the fall season and Nanaimo teams did very well.
“We had two teams go to provincials. Our bantams finished second in all of BC. One of our pee wee teams won a provincial championship and we also started a midget team which we hadn’t had in a decade so that was a huge accomplishment for Football Nanaimo.”
The junior bantams have their coaches in place for the spring season but Currie said they do have coaching vacancies at other levels.
“For pee wee and atom we are always looking for coaches. It’s mostly about willingness to be there and we also have coaching classes that all coaches have to take. There’s a criminal record check and football knowledge is great.”
Other key volunteer positions have yet to be filled as well.
“We’re always looking for more people who can come volunteer,” Currie said. “Our board is filled for the 2024 season but we’re always looking for people to come help with field maintenance, lining the field, doing 50/50, all those sorts of things. We heavily rely on parent and community volunteers.”
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