Article from the March 21, 2007 edition of the Edmonton Examiner

GERRY MODDEJONGE
Examiner Staff

In football, there’s nothing worse than having a hole in your defence.

The success of a team hinges on a solid defensive foundation.

Edmonton’s football foundation in general will become a little stronger this season with the addition of a new bantam football club.

The Southwest Edmonton Mustangs are filling a gap in the city map that wasn’t previously represented in the Capital District Minor Football Association.

“Capital District already has a big group of teams, but southwest Edmonton is growing exponentially,” says program director and head coach Jim Nahrebeski, who has built a lengthy resume of coaching at the high school and community levels.

The team will be based out of the Confederation fields, whereas before, players in the area would have to travel to other parts of the city or beyond to play.

“Now we’re trying to provide an opportunity for those kids right in the community to play football in their backyard,” says Nahrebeski, adding he hopes the club opens football up to new players. “It gives them an opportunity because parents are on the go, parents are busy, and to drive them all the way across the city just for practices gets a little crazy.”

The club has a goal of one day moving further southwest with plans for a new recreation centre in the works.

Troy Kinash, 12, began playing football last year in peewee under coach Naherbeski with the Mill Woods Maulers.

“After that my son was hooked,” says his father Mike, a lawyer with Bryan and Co., who helped establish the Mustangs as an organization. “I’ve been on the outside of football since I’ve played football 30 or 40 years ago.”

Mike says the focus of the new team will no doubt be on player safety and fun, while family vacation time will be respected over the summer.

He pointed out the Mustangs don’t intend to pull players away from existing bantam teams.

“This is an opportunity to get on a team close to their area to represent more their district,” says Mike. “At the rate at which southwest is expanding we don’t envision that there’s going to be a real problem in getting the numbers.”

A core group of players already registered have been taking part in training sessions held Tuesday nights at 8:30 p.m. in the Harry Ainlay high school main gymnasium.

“My son has had a great time because the kids have had a hand in picking the name and looking at logos,” he says, adding the Mustangs’ colours are navy, ocean blue and white.

A Grade 7 student at Archbishop Joseph MacNeil, Troy relies on the Capital District league to get his football fix.

He says he’s excited to represent his own neighbourhood on the Mustangs and is looking forward to playing with kids from other schools in the southwest.

“I think it’s going to be a fun team, skilled coaching and skilled players,” says Troy. “Lots of new people and people from last year that I played with will probably be on this team.”

Although football has become one of his favourite sports, Troy says he also finds time to play hockey and inline hockey during the off-season.

“The intense hitting and the teamwork we have to go through to run all the plays,” are what the defensive end/offensive tackle says are his favourite things about football.

“Sometimes sports like hockey and stuff, you need to be very conditioned. You don’t need to have superb conditioning for football. You just need to have fun and you have to have a team,” says Troy, who is trying to talk some of his friends into joining the team. “It’s not too late to start (playing football).”

It’s something he hopes to continue on past high school.

The Mustangs have a top-down growth model, beginning with the bantam team and looking to include peewee and atom players in the future.

A free introductory bantam camp will be held in May for all registered players born between 1992 and 1994 who aren’t entering high school in the fall. Regular practices beginning midway through July and games midway through August.

Visit www.swemfa.com or call 405-3787.