The players of the North Battleford Elks Touch Football League will be taking to the field in style this season.
Thanks to a sizeable donation of $7,500 from the local Elks Lodge, the league now has new equipment for the 2016 campaign.
鈥淚t really came about in the last year when they reached out to us,鈥� League Commissioner Tyson Blum said. 鈥淎 number of the Elks members have grandkids that are playing in the league and they said to us 鈥榃ell our names are on the jerseys but we can鈥檛 remember the last time we gave you any money to help you guys out.鈥�
鈥淎s it turned out, it happened to be 15 years ago so they generously gave us a check with 500 dollars from each year that they missed. We went to Nutec (Embroidery) and we were able to upgrade everything.鈥�
The most notable different is with the jerseys themselves, as they are now proper football uniforms.
鈥淭he old jerseys were basically what you would see in youth hockey and that鈥檚 not very good for football at all,鈥� Blum said. 鈥淭hey weren鈥檛 breathable and they were getting really worn out.
鈥淭hankfully my wife was graciously sewing up jerseys but we were getting to a point where they weren鈥檛 going to be lasting much longer.鈥�
In addition the new jerseys, the league will also have new equipments bags, football and beanbags that will be used to marked the yardage on the field.
鈥淲e pretty much replaced everything and that鈥檚 what I wanted to do,鈥� Blum said.
鈥淭his will be my last year involved with the league as my son is going through the age group. I wanted to leave everything in perfect shape for the next person who runs the league.鈥�
Registration for the 2016 season, which will begin on Sept. 10, will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Don Ross Centre.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have two divisions once again for ages 7-9 and 10-12,鈥� Blum said.
鈥淲e had some interest in lowering the age of entry to six years of age, but when I lined up a six-year-old next to an eight-year-old the size difference is something I didn鈥檛 want to have out on the field, even though we are a touch league.鈥�
For more information on the league or to volunteer as a coach, contact Blun at 306-441-1945.
