Youth football programs provide opportunities for kids of many ages to experience new sports, and the Portage Pitbulls are no exception.
With age ranges from U10 to U16, the Pitbulls provide a place to learn the game and play it at a high level around the province.
Justin Clarke is the Head Coach of the U14 PeeWee team, among other roles, but he says working with the U10 Cruncher squads is one of his favourite parts of the job.
"It's great. This is my second year coaching the U10 age group, and it's the most fun age group out of all of them to coach. We have players that have played for one season already, and some that are brand new, and we get to be right out on the field with them during the game, calling plays and putting them into the right positions and helping them out. So it's a pile of fun. That U10 age group is the most fun one to watch for sure."
After a busy weekend with homecoming, seeing each team take the field for a game, the squads are preparing for another big event, which will see them active for the full day in September.
"We've got the first game jitters out of the way. All the rookies have got a good feel for what game speed is and what it feels like. So, September 7 is our club day. We'll be running special events all day. We traditionally will set up bouncy castles and stuff. We don't have anything set in stone as to how we're going to do those promos and events yet, but we will be running a bunch of special stuff that day, too, and hopefully we get a huge, huge crowd out for that to really cheer them all on again," he continues. "So, same thing. We'll have all five teams playing that day. We start bright and early in the morning. At 11:30, by the looks of things, is when our Bantam team plays their first game that day. So we'll be there all day. We'll have our canteen running, we're selling merch, and we'll have a bunch of special events and promos going on."
Clarke is also the coach's liaison to the Pitbulls board, and with that, is involved in many aspects, and was an assistant coach at the PeeWee, or U14 level, last season. He notes, many of the boys came back this year, allowing them to field a Bantam squad for the first time in several years.
"Traditionally, those guys are all eligible to play for the Trojans, and everybody's proud to play for the Trojans and to be a Trojan. So that's an age group that we have a tough time fielding a lot of years. This year in particular, we have as tight-knit a group of kids as you're ever going to find, literally as close to a family as you're ever going to find on that team," Clarke adds with pride. "They all agreed as a team throughout the winter that this was what they wanted; to come back, they wanted to put on Pitbull jerseys, and they wanted to go out there and do their best to win the championship this year as a Pitbull. So, we were super, super happy with that, super proud of them, and they're well on their way. If their first game was any evidence of how the rest of the season is going to go, they're well on their way to doing that."
Clarke adds they will continue doing fundraisers throughout the season, adding their 50/50 so far has gotten a great response, suggesting that also makes it "well worth coming out."