Full-contact football would not be a lot of fun if played outdoors in Prince George this weekend.
How would you like to be a quarterback running from a linebacker in metre-deep snow?
But on the field turf of the climate-controlled Northern Sport Centre, close to 100 teenaged players will be in their element, trying to impress a hoard of recruiters from junior and university football teams.
Last season alone, close to 30 players from the Prince George high school and minor football ranks played in the B.C. Junior Football Conference and for most of those players the combine served as a launching pad for their junior careers.
"It's a great opportunity for these kids to have the opportunity to get in gear and play in front of some top-ranked coaches from junior and university programs," said PGMFA president Ryan Bellamy. "It's a stepping stone if they want to continue playing football after they're done playing minor and high school. It's starting to take off. With the growing development of the high school league, there are a lot more opportunities coming up for these kids."
The three-day combine starts with skill sessions and drills Friday afternoon and ends with a 2 1/2-hour scrimmage Sunday afternoon from 12:30-3 p.m. The players will receive 10 hours of on-field instruction, as well as weight training instruction, and tips on making Football B.C.'s Senior Bowl and under-17 teams. The players will be divided into two groups -- junior varsity (Grades 7-10) and varsity (Grades 11 and 12).
"It's full-contact, pretty high-intensity, the same kind of model they will be running off of at high-end camps if they go try out for teams and it makes it pretty interesting for kids getting their first taste of it," said Bellamy, who has been overseeing the PGMFA's winter football workouts, offered twice a week since the start of January at the NSC.
"There's been about 40 to 60 of the kids and a good group of them show up most of the time. That's allowed them to get in shape and it's given them an opportunity to prepare themselves to be on top of their game by camp time."
The list of coaches for the combine includes Matt Blokker, Curtis Hansen and Beau Mirau (Vancouver Island Raiders), Rob McGrudder (Chilliwack Huskers), Tyson St. James (Langley Rams), Brad Yamoka (Kamloops Broncos) and Mike Rowe and Travis Matlock (Edmonton Huskies) Dino Geremia of Simon Fraser University, Daved Benefield and Greg Halifax of UBC , and Football B.C. coaches Ray Moon and Neil Cartwright.
Football B.C. will run the Senior Bowl tryouts for Grade 12 players on Friday afternoon. The under-17 Team B.C. tryouts will be offered Saturday morning.
"We start off with basic skills and drills and then we break into teaching offensive and defensive plays and by the end of the drills we'll get into some light contact and one-on-one drills," Bellamy said. "On Day 2 we'll bring up the intensity and the hitting, and on Sunday they have one session in the morning and the game in the afternoon."
The PGMFA will accept walk-up registrations on Friday. Cost is $225 per player.
For more information, call Bellamy at 612-2627.
