It was a supply and demand problem football style for the Ponoka Broncs Bantam football team this season.
The third year program had more players wanting to play the game than sets of equipment this year.
It was a good problem to have in one respect but also an issue which needed a solution. Enter Head Coach Todd Lewis.
“I put together a sponsorship letter, appealing to the community but also included advertising in return for sponsorship,” he said about the plan to raise money for more gear.
He put on plenty of miles knocking on the doors of local businesses to see who was interested in backing the football program and to this point he’s managed to pull in close to $7,000 dollars.
With each player needed a helmet, shoulder pads, knee and thigh pads along with a jersey you can look at about $600 per player to properly have them ready to play, said Lewis.
“So I wanted to get enough equipment for 45 kids and so I needed to buy 15 sets and I’ve pretty much reached my goal. I’m still collecting cheques from businesses.”
The easy way out of this one would have been to simply stick with a team of 30 players and turn away the rest but Lewis wasn’t going to go down that road.
“If that was the mindset I had in the first place I wouldn’t have even bothered coaching. I’m coaching kids. I’m using football as a tool,” he said. “I think every kid should have a chance to play.”
The impact on the players is noticeable as well. Third year player Seth Gratrix says the plan to get more students playing is such a good idea and will only help the Broncs during the season.
“I think that we’re all pretty grateful for the team and just him helping out the program and it’s so nice for him to do that and to coach,” he said.
The linebacker/running back says the addition of 15 more players won’t do anything but make them stronger and he refers to the his team mates as his brothers.
“Our motto here at the Broncs is lift your brother up and that means don’t give negative comments to them. Don’t leave them on the ground when they get hit. You pick them up, say good job, good play.”
Now if the fundraising fell flat, Lewis and his coaching staff were ready for the other scenario which would have meant rotating players through the lineup during the season. This would ensure no player would have been turned away from playing the game, he said.
The Broncs practice on the site of the Ponoka Secondary Campus where Lewis is a teacher but it’s a community based teams with players coming from around the region. So it’s no surprise the community has rallied behind these young players so they can hit the field when the season starts.
“It’s staggering the amount of support we’ve received from the community. I can’t believe it,” said Lewis. “Going into the summer I knew I had my work cut out for me to find the sponsorship and I never would have dreamed we’d get enough money to actually pay for all the sets of equipment and the uniforms.”
On a personal side Lewis said it was important for him to get this problem solved because he never got the chance to play football until his senior year of high school when Ponoka got football back.
Many of the players that year hadn’t played any other sport so football was their only interest and for Lewis it a sport which basically dictated the course of his life ever since.
“If I hadn’t played football I wouldn’t want to be an educator, I wouldn’t be playing football. I wouldn’t have any interest in athletics. So the impact football has had on me personally really showed me the value of it and I want to pay it forward. I want to give back to the program and make sure other kids have the same opportunity I did.”
The Broncs seem to have their first win of the season without hitting the field.
