Labour Day Monday – and time for the same annual Joe MacDonald Youth Football League tradition – only different.
Those involved with the Joe MacDonald Youth Football League have prided themselves, forever and a day, on the role of the local organization in providing a safe, nurturing environment for young gridiron talent.
That organizational vision is as much a staple of the JMYFL as is the launch of every fall season on the first Monday of September, the kids now taking to the turf of the James Jerome Sports Complex versus the grass fields of years gone by.
But for the generational parents, those who were participants a quarter century ago or so, and are now seated on the sidelines, cheering on their off-spring, much has changed.
While two teams competed in the grand finale tyke encounter on Monday, a blue side and a white side, the notion of one large football family is far more prevalent, with coaches constantly helping out players on both sides, and player movement allowed and encouraged on a week to week basis.
“This group that we have here with the tykes, we were already running this program since mini-mac,” said JMYFL president Ed Prudhomme. “The really good thing is that the younger coaches have really bought into it, coaches like (Sudbury Spartans running back) Matt Glass, who is working with the mini-macs.”
“The nature of youth sports is that sometimes the coaches get as competitive as the kids,” added Prudhomme. “We tend to mitigate that a little bit by having our coaches coach everyone. When we’re teaching and coaching, it really doesn’t matter what colour the jersey is, they are all tyke players and they are all our kids.”
Hard to argue with the end result.
A 28-26 scoreboard would provide the backdrop as all of the coaches gathered, together, to address their young troops, with players from both sides intermingled amongst themselves. Such is the environment that is created when your week one adversary can become your week two teammate.
“We try and find a good mix, and I think today’s game kind of showed a pretty good mix,” said Prudhomme. “Because we are running a uniform system, with the same coaches and the same language and everything, it allows us to change those things around, when needed. If we start seeing that one side is suddenly dominant over another, we can switch things around.”
In fact, that constant search for parity goes beyond the global team overview, drilled right down to an individual level for every single athlete under their care. “We’re not looking at running up scores, we’re not looking for weak matchups, we’re trying to find the best matchups, player for player, position by position.”
It’s a philosophy that is not lost on the young aspiring footballers, even those who are new to the game. “I like it, it’s fair,” said 12 year old grade 7 St Charles (Chelmsford) student Gavin Garner, suiting up in game action for the very first time, at running back, no less. “It’s not like they have just one team with all of their favourite players.”
“They actually have to coach the other team too.”
And if there was any question about the amount of new football knowledge that has been consumed since the start of JMYFL training camps just a couple of weeks ago, one has to look no further than the former soccer player for ample evidence.
“I’m not the best, but I can do some things, for sure,” said Garner. “I’m getting the hang of the speed. Mostly, you need a good quarterback, and then I have to have the speed and agility to really run fast and deke whoever is in your way.”
To his credit, Garner has simplified his role somewhat, apparently with an eye towards self-preservation. “Whenever I see an open space and there’s not a big man on the other side, I go,” he acknowledged with a smile. “If you see somebody coming right at you and you know you’re about to get hit, don’t keep on running in their direction.”
“Go a different direction.”
That might have been the mindset of the opposing QB as Xavier Abbott recorded his first sack of the year. “The quarterback is the guy right in the middle, making all of the plays happen, so I went right where the ball is going,” said the talented 11 year old, who lined up as well, offensively, at slotback.
“You just have to go low on tackles. If you go for the legs, you can get their legs out from under them, and then you just go through with it. You don’t need to be nervous.”
Of course, the good work being done by the Joe MacDonald Youth Football League is not limited to the field of play. The group recently awarded a total of five scholarships, $3000 in all, to local post-secondary students who had been involved in some way, shape or form with the JMYFL over the year.
“I have some other bursaries, but this one felt so much more special, just being a former player and coach,” noted Josh Wilcox, a graduate of both the JMYFL and St Benedict Catholic Secondary School, and second year Bio-Med student at Laurentian University.
An all-star receiver during his playing days as a member of the Bears, Wilcox acknowledged that the lessons of Joe Mac go far beyond the football skills that he developed over the course of five to six summers of play.
“The coaches taught us how to be respectful on the field, how to act as young men,” said the 19 year-old recipient of a $1000 scholarship. “The inclusivity of football, in general, is special. It’s the largest team sport, so you have to learn to get along - it teaches you people skills.”
Also receiving scholarships, along with Wilcox, were Sam West ($1000), Liam Cousineau ($500), Carly White ($250) and Nicholas Rideout ($250).
