A former Carpenter High School Spartan hopes teaching young people the fundamentals of tackle football will lead to a resurgence of the sport in Meadow Lake. Coleton Ethier, who graduated from CHS in 2013, will be back on the football field at Lions Park this spring to lead a one-week training program under the auspices of the newly formed Meadow Lake Minor Football. “We’re going to run a spring football camp for kids in Grade 6-8,” Ethier told Northern Pride. “It will be a quick, one-week introduction to football. We’ll teach some basic drills, hopefully bring in some guest coaches and, at the end, run a quick game amongst ourselves based on numbers.” The camp will run April 19-27.
“This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time, but I just never stayed in the community long enough to really get it rolling until now,” Ethier continued. “Football is a sport that is very important, in my opinion, when it comes to teaching important life skills. It’s also something we’ve been missing in the community for a number of years now.”
Although the City of Meadow Lake’s parks and recreation department has organized a flag football program for children in recent years, there hasn’t been a football program offered at CHS in nearly five years. “There’s been a good amount of positive feedback so far,” Ethier said. “The city ran flag football back in the fall, and I helped coach that. There were a number of kids involved in flag football who expressed interest in also playing tackle football. The long-term goal is to be able to build this into something where kids can play flag football through Grade 5 with the city, then go from flag to minor tackle and then from minor tackle to high school tackle. I played high school football here and losing the high school football team was a huge blow to Meadow Lake, especially to the young kids. Football is a sport kids who perhaps don’t fit the typical roles of other sports can still play. Football has a role for everybody.” He also said, by starting at a young age, it will prepare kids ahead of time meaning – if and when a high school team is reformed – it will allow for a greater window of success.
“That’s a big proponent of why we want to start where we’re starting,” Ethier noted. “I know there’s lots of high school kids interested in playing football right now. But, if we put them into competitive games when they’ve never played before and put them against kids who have been playing for five years, well, that’s not really fair to the athletes.” Anyone interested in signing up for Meadow Lake Minor Football can do so by visiting the group’s Facebook page or contacting Ethier at 306-240-5375. There is a registration fee of $50 per athlete. Among those looking forward to the arrival of Meadow Lake Minor Football is the city’s parks and recreation manager Regan Beck. “It is very exciting to see tackle football returning to Meadow Lake,” Beck said. “We are always happy to see more options for youth to stay active, and football provides another great sport for them participate in.”