Lack of high school football to impact Kamloops Broncos greatly

“It’s unfortunate,” said Brad Yamaoka, who starred in Kamloops’ last high school football championship in 1990. “Back when I played high school football, evening coming through junior high football, we had four junior teams in the city and we played a city league, and that’s all we did. We won the city’s and we were happy.”

The junior programs at Westsyde and South Kam are still going this year, and the hope at both Westsyde and Valleyview is players will move up the ranks and there will be enough to fill the roster of a senior team.

In the meantime, the lack of high school football players is going to put a dent into the already-struggling Broncos junior program.

“We’ve always had the desire to have this team built on local players, and without having them it’s going to have a big impact on us,” said team president Darren Watt.

Watt, who coached at Valleyview and is now the president of the Kamloops Broncos, believes the solution lies in community football, so that players can play the game no matter what the high school landscape is. Right now, players can play community until they’re in Grade 8, and beyond that the only option is high school.

“Bantam and Midget to me is the option that makes the most sense to us because it keeps the kids who are already playing community together,” said Watt. “They can use the same schematics, the same scheme as what we use here. I’d like to see the Midget team practice with [the Broncos] a couple days a week. That way, we can continue them on their learning paths.”

Watt says transitioning to exclusively community will take a couple years, if it ever happens at all. It may face resistance from people who want to see high school football carry on.

Yamaoka, who also coaches the South Kam junior football team, has a soft spot for high school ball. But he also wants what is best for the sport in Kamloops and for the Broncos.

“You look at Saskatchewan and you go to rural areas. I mean, we have a prime example with the Broncos. We got a lot of guys that came from six-man, nine-man football,” said Yamaoka, the running backs coach with the Broncos. “That maybe the way things are going. We could probably, feasibly, put together, if we had six-man football in the city, five or six teams.”

Broncos’ wide receiver Evan Guizzo, who played high school football at Valleyview, is disappointed to see his alma mata’s football team fold. But he’s open to the idea of having more of a community team in Kamloops.

“I think that might be a great option. It might give a bit of a high competition level. You get guys from all over Kamloops, not just guys in parts of the city,” he said.

“If you bring everyone together, it makes a great opportunity. It keeps the [Broncos] program alive with a ton of players out.”

At this point, riding a 16-game losing streak, the Broncos can use any help they can get.

by Chad Klassen

Lack of high school football to impact Kamloops Broncos greatly

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