What a difference a decade makes.
Ten years ago Yorkton Minor Football (YMF) was in its infancy stage, struggling to draw in youth players and having a hard time providing basic equipment and quality coaching. 鈥淚t was tough for us to even find chin straps for the players back then,鈥� laughed YMF member and coach Jason Boyda, adding that in addition to the equipment issues, the organization also had a problem with a lack of players. 鈥淲hen I asked the guys who were here then what the numbers were like, they told me they were in the low 20鈥檚. For 12-man football, they had 20 some players. One year they played with 18 players.
鈥淐oach Roby Sharpe told me that they played with 19 players in high school playing 12-man football.鈥�
Fast forward now to the present, where teams now not only have equipment, they have a plethora of players as well. 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e done in that last 10 years with the equipment and the clubhouse and facilities that we have now is just phenomenal, as is the amount of players we have,鈥� said Boyda. 鈥淣ow our numbers are ridiculous. To give an example, our spring leagues for grades four, five, six and seven we have 120 kids signed up to play spring football.
鈥淟ast year our bantam/junior and senior teams combined to have 100 kids playing football. So from our lowest age group to our highest in Yorkton we have over 200 kids playing football. That is fantastic considering where we came from with 18 or 19 kids on a team. Now our teams are 30, 40, sometimes 45 players. Those days of having 18 or 19 players on a roster are gone; now we鈥檙e looking at 40 players.鈥�
Those current teams are also finding success, unlike their predecessors from years past. 鈥淚 know that when we first started Football Night our teams were having a hard time winning games,鈥� mentioned Boyda. 鈥淎ll of our teams now are successful. The lowest any of our teams finished last year was third place and we played in a few league championships, so we鈥檝e come a long way.鈥�
Boyda said that the main reason YMF has improved in every aspect 鈥� both on the field and off 鈥� is because of the funds that Football Night in Saskatchewan has raised for the organization over the past 10 years and the support that the local community has shown YMF through donations at the charity night. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a hats off to the community supporting us through Football Night. They have provided us with the funds necessary to allow these kids to play football and get the best equipment and coaching they need to be successful, and if they didn鈥檛 get behind this event, then we wouldn鈥檛 be where we are today.鈥�
This past weekend鈥檚 Football Night in Saskatchewan also proved to be a success, with upwards of 20-grand being raised for Yorkton Minor Football. 鈥淭his year our event was just as awesome as it was the last nine years,鈥� suggested Boyda. 鈥淲e had great speakers, special guests and an awesome night with the football family.
鈥淚n the words of Drake, 鈥榳e started from the bottom, now we here鈥�, and we鈥檙e only going to keep getting better from here.鈥�
