A camp held annually by the Prince George Minor Football Association has been brought down behind the line of scrimmage.
The Northern Football Combine, which gives players a chance to learn new skills and demonstrate their talents for university and junior coaches, was supposed to be held Friday through Sunday at the Northern Sport Centre fieldhouse but has been canceled because of low registration numbers.
"You need 60-plus [participants] and we just didn't get the interest this year," said PGMFA president Don Williams. "Sometimes that happens."
Coaches from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University were ready to make the trip north, as were the sideline bosses of various B.C. Football Conference clubs. Included on that list was former P.G. resident Matt Blokker, head coach and president of football operations for the Vancouver Island Raiders.
"We had everything arranged but if you don't have the players it doesn't work," Williams said.
"The Combine isn't really for Grade 12 students, it's for the younger guys, and you have your typical cycles in sports. We're in a low cycle for that age group but we have a lot of young kids coming up so in a year or two I don't see any issue with having enough players."
The Combine was first held at the NSC fieldhouse in 2008.
Even though the Combine has been sacked for this year, assessments for participation in various provincial-level programs will still take place on Saturday.
"We'll have Prep To Be The Best, which is ages 13 to 15, Team B.C., which is 16 and 17, and then Senior Bowl [evaluations] for kids in Grade 12," Williams said. "Players will do skills and drills to see who would qualify to be on these teams."
