Organizers bring football back to West Kelowna, offering both flag and tackle options

Football returns to Westside

Photo: West Kelowna Football

Football is returning to West Kelowna with spring and winter flag football, as well as a fall tackle season.

A minor football association is launching this spring in West Kelowna.

One of the people behind the push for football on the Westside, Charlie Johnson, tells Castanet that young people want to play with their friends.

Johnson says West Kelowna has been covered by the Kelowna Minor Football Association for many years now and he feels the time is right for a separate league.

"We've had a lot of parents complain about the fact that their kids don't have a community program to play on the Westside. Whether we want to believe it or not, the bridge is definitely a problem."

Johnson says travel can be a deterrent, and the organizers hope to attract enough players to have several divisions:

• U7 Lil' Bears - Birth years 2020- 2021
• U10 - Birth Years 2017-2019
• U12 - Birth Years 2015-2016
• U14 - Birth Years 2013-2014.

The league will play in the Southern Interior Conference where they will be taking on other Okanagan associations.

"Our seasons will include spring and winter flag football, as well as a fall tackle season."

Johnson has been the team manager for the Mount Boucherie Secondary School Bears football program for the past 15 years, and he hopes to create a pipeline for the best players.

All of the kids playing in the flag football division will be wearing air helmets, and they hope to have enough players to start a tackle league in the fall.

"I'm a very big promoter and supporter of community football. I think that's where it all starts," Johnson says.

Registration is now open. For more information, click here.