[CaptainCrunch]

So I've been thinking a lot about the transition of Canadian Players into the CFL. There are a lot of difficulties happening.



The emphasis is shifting to club teams. High School Football seems to be dying a slow death. Schools don't have the budget for it. The season I think is dropping down to 5 games, and we're still losing players over the whole concussion issues because Football Canada has really lost the Public Relations battle over concussions.



I think at the club level. Peewee, Bantam and Spring. The coaching is decent enough. But more work needs to be done in terms of position development. We're seeing a good jump in running back and receiver quality as well as all defensive positions. We're always going to see Linemen coming out of Canada.



However the coaching side still emphasizes simple and winning, which is fine, but at some point, it does have to be about development of the individual player and positions.


More training programs for coaches at the position level should be something that's really emphasized. I mean usually you can get position certified by taking a 4 hour course on positions. Its not enough. For me, what I mostly learn comes from my own research, a lot of reading and US based courses whether online or in person, which can get expensive. Going to a coaching course on QB's in California is really expensive and I don't get re-embursed for the course.


Also for example and I'm not begrudging it, but having someone's Dad coaching QB's because his son is a QB and then when the son graduates the program the Dad goes with him doesn't build consistency with QB's or receivers etc.



Realistically I would love to see a coaching recruiting program put into play, Football Canada or football Alberta should be reaching out to players at the end of their playing track and encouraging them to look for coaching and getting them into programs to coach with.



One big positive for me with the Bantam Bowl for example, is that I finally got my coaching certification. I had basically been trained but what stopped me was the difficulty of scheduling my on field evaluation. I got that last weekend.



Development of Canadian players is nowhere near as in depth or fast as American Players. We really need to get more camps for players, while there are some excellent 3rd party camps in Calgary with Dickenson's camp for QB's and Receivers or Strive etc. There almost needs to be more.


Just my two cents.