Smashing into big foam pads, more than 30 Spectrum Community School athletes sweated through a tackling drill on Wednesday at football practice. Today, the brand new Spectrum Thunder will be doing it for real in the Belmont Bulldogs Spring Jamboree at Westhills Stadium, and, for most of the players, it will be their first ever game.
鈥淯ncoil your body, explode. You鈥檙e tackling,鈥� coach Roy Vollinger yelled out to the helmeted bunch eagerly trying to do it right.
Vollinger has spent more than three decades teaching kids the game, while pushing the sport on anyone who would listen. He went to four schools, before taking his proposal for a football program to Spectrum last fall. They listened.
鈥淚t was almost something that came to us out of the blue,鈥� Spectrum principal Rob House said.
But House had previously worked at Mount Doug, home of the two-time defending triple-A champion Rams. He thought the sport would be a good fit at Spectrum.
鈥淲e started to put the word out 鈥� before we knew it, we suddenly had an interested group of 30 to 40 kids.鈥�
The school had no money for equipment or uniforms, so Vollinger hustled up a first-year budget of $60,000 through his community contacts, mainly Quality Foods and the Victoria Pub Company, helped out by Thunder equipment manager Gary Ralfs.
鈥淗e keeps creating teams,鈥� assistant coach Don Frenette said of Vollinger, whose coaching and promoting career has included stints with Victoria Payless (during the 鈥�70s and 鈥�80s), the Victoria Spartans and Vancouver Island Peewee league. In 1996, he began the football program at Mount Doug, the first high school team on the Island.
With about 44 players in total, Spectrum will have a senior team in the double-A division of the sa国际传媒 High School Football Association this fall, and play junior varsity (Grades 8 and 9) on an exhibition schedule. As students come into the school for Grade 8 next year, those numbers are expected to increase.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be going full bore next year,鈥� House said. 鈥淎 lot of these kids aren鈥檛 necessarily involved in other school sports. We realized this is hitting another group of kids.鈥�
The jamboree, complete with cheerleaders from school dance programs, runs all day, beginning at 9:30 a.m., and features teams from Belmont, Edward Milne, Pitt Meadows and Spectrum, with the big finale between the Thunder and Bulldogs set for 6 p.m.
Spectrum quarterback Tye Pettepiece, a Grade 10 student who also doubles as a running back for the Victoria Spartans, said his rookie teammates are going to find the game situation very different from practice.
鈥淚 think it鈥檒l be a surprise for sure,鈥� said Pettepiece, still confident in the progress to date. 鈥淚 think our team has a lot of heart. We鈥檝e got a lot of players that really want to be out here, and really want to play ball.鈥�
For Grade 11 wide receiver and safety Justin Wilson, the opportunity to be on a football team again is something he鈥檚 wanted to do since playing peewee four years ago. For family reasons, he鈥檇 been unable to continue in the community program.
鈥淚 just love playing. I always wanted to continue,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited just to be in a game environment again, and definitely excited for all the guys out here who鈥檝e never had a chance to feel that feeling of being in an actual game.鈥�
The game will be the reward for long and intense practices, and Vollinger, knowing the disadvantages of never having played before, will be there encouraging his Thunder through the storms.
鈥淏eautiful,鈥� he told them after the tackling drill on Wednesday. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 it, boys.鈥�
