The Rams Football NFL Flag Program has been expanding to multiple communities across the Kootenays, with plans to get even bigger.
Daniel Herrick with the program, said finding enough coaches and volunteers can be tough but they’ve had good turnout in different communities.
It continues to grow and expand. It seems like every time we go to a new community it’s taken up very quickly and we found some key people in some of our communities to help us grow there,” he said.
‘I think it’s great for the region to have other teams and other communities where you can play and don’t have to drive for five hours to play a game.”
They’ve now moved into the Elk Valley and the West Kootenay.
“We’ve been expanding the NFL Flag program which is from Grade 3 to Grade 8. We’re now as far as Castlegar, Trail, a couple of teams in Nelson and we’ve gone a little further east now to Fernie. Now we’re just trying to continue to expand, grow and boost the numbers in these communities.”
A Kootenay Bowl was even held in Cranbrook with teams from around the area.
Herrick says the next goal is to introduce tackle programs.
“The grand vision is that this flag league that we’ve started with the younger kids eventually moves up into a regional tackle league and have teams move from flag into a senior tackle program in all these communities,” he added.
He said it will take a lot of work but they hope to have some set up by the fall football season.
“A lot of people are doing a lot of work with us to try and help continue to grow. Football is a big sport and you need a lot of kids and you need a lot of gear, so it’s a big task,” he said.
“We’re excited about the participation numbers and the excitement that these communities have had. I think it’s looking like more and more of a possibility that we’ll be able to start planting some tackle programs in some of these communities.”
The program is currently in its planning phase of the year. They have a shorter spring season and then get ready for the full fall program.
Herrick is hoping to have a couple of summer camps to get ready for the fall.
