High schools had football saved, are headed to Grey Cup thanks to Nissan's "Back In The Game"
The CFL's import talent pool is incredibly strong right now, and Canadian football talent is peaking as well, with a CIS-only draft this past year still producing great picks, Canadian players contending for top CFL awards and unprecedented NFL interest in Canadian players. To keep that pipeline of Canadian talent strong, and to keep young players and their families interested in football, grassroots high school and minor football in Canada needs to keep developing. It's facing some significant challenges, including the costs of equipment and travel, competition for athletes with other sports and safety concerns. Fortunately, some organizations are stepping up to help promote grassroots football in a big way. We've seen some of this before with great initiatives like the long-runningNFL Youth Coach of the Year program (more on this year's iteration of that when the winner's announced on Dec. 2), and there's another terrific one this year with a CFL/Nissan Canada partnership to support for 21 struggling high school football programs across the country through the "Back In The Game" program in partnership with the CFL.
What's particularly cool about that? In addition to helping fund football programs, Nissan also featured two of the 21 schools (Edmonton's Eastglen High School and Hamilton's Sir John A. Macdonald High School in a season-long documentary series (which is available in episodes online, and will also air in a completed form on TSN Saturday), and they recently announced that they're flying both schools' teams out to Vancouver for the Grey Cup, and for a game between the sides at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium Saturday. Here's video of that announcement and how the teams reacted:
The joy on the kids' faces (the announcements come at 3:45 in the video) is awesome, and it's really neat to see a CFL sponsor do a promotion that's so focused on grassroots football. High school football doesn't attract a ton of fans or attention in Canada, but it's an incredibly important element of the overall game, both for developing players for the next level and for developing football fans. Keeping programs like the two at these inner-city schools not just alive, but thriving, and finding ways to give them a high-profile trip to the Grey Cup (and hopefully, a high-profile game against each other) is terrific. As Sir John A. Macdonald coach Jeff Kott told The Globe and Mail's Darren Gee, it's making a big difference for the kids, too:
Kott, a math and phys-ed teacher who has coached the senior team since 2001, says it’s a yearly challenge to get kids to commit.
“This year was different,” he said. “They had something to be proud of. They had an identity. This is who we are. This is Sir John A. Macdonald football and this is why it’s awesome: the Grey Cup and our brand-new uniforms and because of Nissan coming in …”
“It’s a life-changing experience for the kids, it really is.”
Eastglen head coach Kent Anderson told The Edmonton Examiner's Aaron Taylor that the boost to his program helped not just with finances (allowing them to return from a six-a-side league to a full twelve-a-side ones), but with the players' morale and with increased support from the student body and parents:
“It’s been a real big boost to the morale,” said the Blue Devils’ head coach Kent Anderson of the funding boost provided by the “Back in the Game” program as well as the subsequent increase in student participation.
“The kids start to get to know the football players, they wear jerseys on game day, they come out, it has been really positive for our school in general.”
And this program seems really positive for Canadian football in general. Here's hoping Nissan and the CFL can keep it going in future years.
