Edmonton Elks organize free camp for high school football players sidelined by strike

High school football players sidelined as a result of the Alberta teachers strike are getting some gridiron help from the CFL’s Edmonton Elks.

The strike, which enters Day 3 on Wednesday, means a number of school sports teams are having their seasons put on hold indefinitely, including high school football, flag football, volleyball and soccer.

Ryan Brower, community co-ordinator of amateur football with the Elks, says the team wanted to step up to make sure local football players still had the chance to get some practice time in during the strike.

He said the 125 available slots were filled within a number of hours, with another 90 student athletes put on a waiting list for the six practice days planned throughout the month.

"It just goes to show the passion people have," Brower said of the uptake. 

"Kids want to keep developing."

Brower, who noted the camp was made possible with help from the province’s umbrella organization Football Alberta, said the student athletes who attend will learn from the pros. Elks players from each position will be helping out, including two-time Canadian Football League all-star receiver Steven Dunbar Jr.

"Our community is better off when this organization is out and serving people," said Brower.

Tim Enger, the director of Football Alberta, said in an update this week that most high school leagues have cancelled this week's games as an immediate response to the strike.

Among the games cancelled, Enger said, was a match between two of Calgary's largest high schools — Notre Dame and St. Francis — who were set to meet at the Calgary Stampeders' McMahon Stadium in an annual event that he says garners the largest turnout for a high school football game in the country.

The strike is affecting some 740,000 students in 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools, which all closed Monday.

It began after teachers overwhelmingly rejected the government's latest offer, which included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and hiring 3,000 more teachers to reduce overcrowded classrooms.

That offer also included money to cover the cost of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, Jason Schilling, has said the pay bump doesn't make up for years of stagnant salaries and the additional hiring commitments aren't enough to fix overcrowded classrooms.

Premier Danielle Smith has repeatedly defended the government's proposal, saying it’s fair and designed to address issues teachers are raising.

Starting Thursday, teachers will also be locked out of their schools, a move the provincial government's bargaining committee says will provide predictability by ruling out changing job action tactics by teachers.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson