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Kamloops football coach works to keep team together after the championships

Kamloops community football junior bantam team the Broncos hope to get to and win the 9-Man Provincial Championships.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Andrea Veitch

As a team of 12 and 13-year-old boys play in what may be their last championship, one of their coaches is hoping to start a program to keep the team together once the season is finished.

Kamloops community football junior bantam team the Broncos have just beat the Kelowna Junior Sun-Blue at the Okanagan semi-finals in a 76 to 44 game. Now, the Broncos will play against the Kelowna Junior Sun-Green on Nov. 10 at Hillside Stadium for the Southern Interior Football Conference Championship. Coach Darryl Doern, who has coached the same core group of boys for six years, says their bonds have made them a stronger team.

“The core group has been playing together so long, they just play for each other… probably the best internal leadership of any team that I’ve seen or played against. They’re self-driven,” Doern says. “For four seasons we’ve made it to the championships, and four years ago we won the championship, and then went on to win the provincial championships, but that was at a peewee level.”

Doern says he is hopeful that the boys will eventually go on to win the provincial championship.

“We’ve done everything we have to at this point, it’s just a matter of beating one more team from Kelowna,” Doern says. “They have unfinished business from last year. They’re excited about the game, but if they win this game what they want is to go all the way.”

If the boys win, they will go on to play the winners of the four leagues in British Columbia for the 9-Man Provincial Championships, held here in Kamloops at Hillside Stadium on Nov. 16.

Doern says that regardless of the outcome of the championships, he hopes that the boys will be able to play together once they finish the season.

“Junior bantam up to this year has been as far as you can go, but what we’re hoping to do as of next year is create a bantam program so some of these kids can continue to play together for another couple of years,” Doern says.

Doern says high school football is currently only available at two secondary schools in the city and wants to create an opportunity for community football teams to support players despite their age. Doern says the program is “still in the works” and he hopes to keep the team together.

If you want to find out more information about the championships and standings, check out the website for the B.C. Community Football Association.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Jenna Wheeler or call (250) 819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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