The Eagles are set to take flight with their first full-fledged 6 aside female football squad.
The Foothills Eagles will field a girls team for the first time after a handful of players made their debut in the fledgling U18 Female Tackle Football League one season ago.
“Last year we made an effort to put a team together, I would say it was a lot more last minute last year,” said Eagles head coach Lance Kelly. “We started talking about it in February or March and made a valiant effort to get it going, but were unsuccessful.
“We decided early on we would consolidate with a Calgary team and had five Okotoks girls play on that Calgary team.”
Since then, the interest has more than quadrupled with 23 registered players for the team in 2023.
Fifteen of that group will play in the 14-17 age group league with an additional eight players in the 11-13 age group on the junior squad, who will play fifth quarters in a set-up akin to JV football.
“We thought we would give it another attempt this year with some more lead time and a little more effort,” Kelly said.
The five players returning with league experience are Sidanee Bowers, Akira Kelly, Alyssa Monaghan, Jaidyn Hensel and Haydee Schwieger.
Bowers played on the provincial championship-winning Holy Trinity Academy Knights team in 2022 and starred for Team Alberta at the Football Canada U18 Female Championship where she was named special teams MVP for the gold medallists.
“They’re a big presence on the squad,” said Kelly of the veteran group. “I’ve got to take my hat off to them, they’ve done a tremendous job of recruiting, of spreading the word.
“We’ve got some in high school, some in junior high school and they were all working hard, talking to their friends, talking to other girls in the school. We did a recruiting drive at Aldersyde, at the rec centre to help built it.”
The Eagles’ senior team will play in the league against teams from Red Deer, Airdrie and Calgary with the league running from late April until June.
The team held its first practice on April 3, with sessions being held at Howard Park, Foothills Composite and the Cavalry FC Regional Field House.
Foothills’ first taste of competition will be at a jamboree in Red Deer on April 30.
The Eagles will kick-off the six-game regular season on May 14 against the Calgary Wildcats, a 1 p.m. start at Shouldice Park’s Hellard Field.
“We’ve got to give credit where it’s due, the Calgary Bantam Football Association has really stepped up in their support of this initiative,” Kelly said. “We are not ready to have their league boundaries apply to this program, so they’ve provided a ton of support.
“They’re giving us all of the equipment, the jerseys and a lot of the stuff that we need to get going and we were able to keep our fees to about half of what a normal football program would cost because of the support of the CBFA. They’ve been fantastic.”
Kelly said the Eagles are still accepting registrations for the 6 aside team.
For more information on the program, visit gofa.ca/teams/6-aside-girls/.
