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Outlaws full steam ahead with indoor pre-season training

April 1, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The gridiron season is still two months away, but the Orangeville Outlaws are already tossing around the pigskin and working on their drills and shaking off that winter rust in anticipation of a good season on the football field.

There has been a good turnout this season in terms of numbers of players signing up.

The Outlaws reputation as a well organized and well run club has brought a lot of new players from outside of the the region wanting to play football in Orangeville.

Around 15 players from Owen Sound area already working with the club at the varsity level and are making the trip every week for practice.

Owen Sound does not have an organized football club other than at the high school level and player are keen to play in Orangeville.

“This is our pre-season camp,” explained Orangeville Outlaws president Jim Walsh. “This is four hours we have here today. All age groups come. This is essentially the beginning of our season. This is week three for training camp. We had a pre-season skills camp that was separate from this.”

With the good numbers of players turning out, the Outlaws are confident it putting out a full line-up of teams on the field this year.

“It looks like we’re going to put five teams on the field,” Walsh said. “We’ve got atom, peewee, bantam, junior varsity, and varsity. It looks good for numbers so we’re going to declare those teams. Depending on the age group we have anywhere from 20 to 25 players per team already. Our numbers are really good and it’s still early.”

One of the teams to watch this season will be the varsity division squad which has a lot of experienced players and are looking strong with the addition of the recruits from Owen Sound.

“We have a big varsity team. We have upwards of 35 to 40 kids this year. It looks really good. We are demanding some commitment this year. We’ve had problems in the past were we rostered a bunch of players but attendance was kind of spotty. It makes it tough for the guys who do make it out, so we’re asking for a high percentage of attendance this year,” Walsh said.

A lot of clubs have problems at the varsity level with player commitment. By making the statement that you need to be committed to play means the Outlaws coaches only expect what they themselves do – and that is show up and commit to the team.

Walsh said anyone interested in playing is welcome to come out.

“The first question we are asked is ‘my kid’s never played but he wants to try it.? We always say, bring them. We’ll teach them how to play. Everybody’s welcome. We’re inclusive. We’re a family here. You can start at varsity if you’ve never played before. If your somewhat athletic, it will come to you quickly.”

In the early pre-season training, the players go through the basics.

“They’re working on drills, mobility, football moves, the football stance, just how things work. There’s always an instructional element to it.”

There’s still a lot of pre-season work ahead as players hone their skills, work on techniques and their position on the field, and start learning the plays.

Things will ramp up to more play style practice one the teams moved outdoors when the weather warms up.

The football season starts on the May 24, long weekend.

The Outlaws will play their first games on the road before returning to their home field at Westside Secondary School in Orangeville.

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