High school football players sidelined as a result of the Alberta teachers strike are getting some gridiron help from the CFL’s Edmonton Elks.
The strike, which enters Day 3 on Wednesday, means a number of school sports teams are having their seasons put on hold indefinitely, including high school football, flag football, volleyball and soccer.
Ryan Brower, community coordinator of amateur football with the Elks, says the team wanted to step up to make sure local football players still had the chance to get some practice time in during the strike.
He said the 125 available slots were filled within a number of hours, with another 90 student athletes put on a waiting list for the six practice days planned throughout the month.
“It just goes to show the passion people have,” Brower said of the uptake.
“Kids want to keep developing.”
Brower, who noted the camp was made possible with help from the province’s umbrella organization Football Alberta, said the student athletes who attend will learn from the pros. Elks players from each position will be helping out, including two-time Canadian Football League all-star receiver Steven Dunbar Jr.
“Our community is better off when this organization is out and serving people,” said Brower.
Tim Enger, the director of Football Alberta, said in an update this week that most high school leagues have cancelled this week’s games as an immediate response to the strike.
Among the games cancelled, Enger said, was a match between two of Calgary’s largest high schools — Notre Dame and St. Francis — who were set to meet at the Calgary Stampeders’ McMahon Stadium in an annual event that he says garners the largest turnout for a high school football game in the country.
The strike is affecting some 740,000 students in 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools, which all closed Monday.
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