Blue Bomber flag football league coming to the Southeast

For kids who love football but don’t love getting hit or tackled the Blue Bombers have started two rural flag football leagues in the Southeast to get players out on the field.

“We’ve been committed to flag football for a number of years and we wanted to grow the game outside the city and have three new leagues started in Manitoba this year: Niverville, Hanover, and Ritchot; Beausejour, Lac du Bonnet, Brokenhead, and Oakbank; and Pembina Valley,” said Wade Miller, president and CEO of the Blue Bombers.

Miller said flag football is a great sport for boys and girls as it gives everybody the opportunity to learn how to play with no contact. There are three divisions in the leagues: U10, U12, and U14.

“Playing in a sport like this builds teamwork, commitment, to being a part of a team, and growing that passion for the game of football,” said Miller.

Teresa Mistelbacher, supervisor of recreation – camps and programming for the Town of Niverville, said this is the first time that the municipalities are offering flag football for youth and “it’s very exciting.”

“We were already interested in having flag football in the community and so through Sport Manitoba and Football Manitoba we were put in touch with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who have made an initiative to bring flag football into rural communities,” she said.

“And in doing that, we partnered with Ritchot and Hanover to learn more about that and realized we had a lot of opportunity to partner there, and offer league style play within our three areas, so that youth will have the opportunity to develop their skills and play somewhat competitively against each other.”

Those who want to sign up for flag football can visit bluebombers.com/springflagleague. There are also opportunities for coaches and referees to sign up on the same link.

Other recreation opportunities

Aside from having flag football in the communities, Niverville is also offering other recreational opportunities, some of which are new to the municipality.

For the first time a tree care workshop is being offered with a certified arborist. “He’ll be helping us understand best practices in planting, in pest and disease management, and pruning how to in our residential areas, and how to include tree care into our everyday homes,” said Mistelbacher.

Also new to the recreation guide is Canadian cooking classes for adults, where a registered dietician and will focus on buying local and how to incorporate that into everyday cooking. The recipes will be eaten at the end of the class.

Returning to the recreation and leisure guide is pickle ball, but this time it will focus on beginners and intermediate players. “This time we’re running an intro to pickle ball which is really great for an absolute beginner learning the rules of the game, the types of swings and hits you can use in the game, as well as terminology used for scoring and for game play.

“We also have an intermediate clinic which will help people who have some basis of play just really upscale their game and work on their shots. Those are taught by a certified instructor.”

Returning to the recreation and leisure guide is the spring community garage sale and little league soccer for youth ages two to five.

Also returning are spring art classes for youth and adults which are taught by a local artist. The adults will learn watercolour painting while the youth will develop their multimedia skills. At the end of the class there will be an art show.

To sign up for any of these recreation and leisure opportunities visit nivervillerec.ca. For those with questions, email recreation@whereyoubelong.ca or call 204-388-4600 ext. 3.