THE BATTLEFORDS — The Battlefords are known for their strong high school football programs. The opportunity for youth to start their football experience begins with the Battlefords Minor Football program.
The BMF program, known as the Bucks, for Grades 6 and 7, started in 2015. Five seasons were played before the program was shut down due to COVID-19. In the last league years, a championship was won three years in a row.
“Our team practices at the soccer field behind Reuben Mayes Field at NBCHS,” Kevin Pinno tells the News Optimist and SASKTODAY.ca.
“Our nine-man football games, the Bucks, will be held at the JP II football field, while our 12-man games will be held at Beaver Lion Stadium, where the Senior Vikings play their home games. For our games in Saskatoon, we will be playing at SMF Field. Depending on the schedule, we may have to travel to Prince Albert, Lloydminster or Clavet.”
While registration was intended to close Aug. 29, using the new onboarding registration through Saskatoon Minor Football, a grace period was allowed to Sept. 5.
“There are certain requirements about safety and how many hours players need to practise safe contact before they can play, which is why it is important that players sign up as soon as possible. Players that sign up too late risk missing the first game, as they will not have enough hours practising safe contact, adds Pinno.
The youth football program will post their schedule through their social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
The Battlefords Bucks play in the KFL, which is a league run by Saskatoon Minor Football. There are teams all around the province that play in this league, including Prince Albert, Lloydminster, Martensville, Clavet and Saskatoon.
“Currently, these are the only games that we play in, but exhibition games with other local teams are definitely a possibility,” Pinno says.
Pinno says registrations cover the cost of most of the team’s yearly expenses such as referees and field rentals. Equipment has been covered through generous donations from a variety of businesses in the community that have allowed the youth sports organization to purchase helmets and other expenses.
“We rely on donations and fundraisers to make purchases for our program to try and reduce the costs for players to play. Many homes may have seen the coaches and former players last year singing poorly in our ‘Bad Carolers’ fundraiser.”
The Bucks are a nine-man football team, that includes players in Grades 6 and 7. The Blues, are a 12-man football team that includes players in Grade 8 and 9. Pinno acknowledges their organization would need to need a minimum of 23 players for a nine-man team and 30 players for a 12-man team to see success.
“It takes a lot of players to make a strong football team and we are always looking for more players.”
Pinno is one of five coaches working with the Bantam team and also includes Paul Mitchell, Kenyon LaClare, Chris Browne and Andrew Waithman. Additionally, Paul Fransoo and Justin Isinger, help with the peewee team. Fransoo is the head coach of the John Paull II Crusaders while Isinger is the defensive co-ordinator of the NBCHS Vikings.
“Mike Humenny has also been helpful with the transition to a community team. Without everyone listed, we wouldn't be able to run our program or set up game days, as there is a lot of work that needs to go on behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly. Also, she is not a coach but Lianne Rhyhorchuk has been helping us with fundraising and social media which has given us more time to focus on coaching,” says Pinno.
The organization says if you took a current list of players from the Senior Vikings football team, many players had previously played for the Bucks program, starting in Grade 6. The current Grade 10s playing for the senior Vikings at NBCHS were the last group of Bucks that played before the program was shut down.
