Popularity of Graham Football Surprises Coach
Many have never played before
By Tyler Olsen, The Times January 31, 2012
The head coach of G.W. Graham’s new football program says he was blown away by the student response to a call for players last week.
Laurie Smith said 82 students signed up to be part of the new varsity program at the school. That means that about half of all boys (a half dozen girls also expressed interest) who will be in Grades 9 and 10 this fall said they wanted to play football.
Smith says he was stunned by the turnout.
“I went into it thinking we might get 15 or 20 kids that wanted to play,” he said. With a couple dozen kids on a waitlist to transfer to the school factored in, Smith figured he might have 30 or 40 kids from which to build a team. “To have something closer to 120, that really surprised me.”
Smith was also taken with the number of students who wanted to play organized football for the first time in their lives.
“What struck me today looking at the list of 82 kids, is that only 10 of them are Chilliwack Giants players,” said Smith
That, he said, means that the program is going to augment, rather than detract from, the Giants minor football program.
“It’s going to grow football, it’s going to increase the total number of kids playing football who are 14 or 15 in Chilliwack,” said Smith.
He attributes the popularity of the program to its integration into the school day and the fact that parents can drop their kids off at school in the morning, pick them up in the late afternoon, and in between the child will have both gone to school and football practice.
From the dozens of students who have expressed interest in playing football, Smith projects that some will fall by the wayside, whether because for personal or parental reasons. The program will host combines and practices in the coming months to introduce players to the sport. Eventually, Smith and the coaches may need to make cuts, but he noted that while most rosters have around 40 players, there is no limit on the number of players a team can carry.
tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
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