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Outlaws start pre-season training

March 25, 2015   ·   0 Comments

With just under eight weeks until the start of summer football, Orangeville Outlaws players are working on their skills during pre-season training in the dome at ACTS Fitness.

The Outlaws having been turning out quality teams over the past several years with last season being a banner year with two Outlaws clubs winning championships and one more going to the final.

“ We’re working on positional training. Today we’re doing middle linebackers,” Explained Varsity Division coach and Club president John Davis. “We’ve added this as part of our repertoire. For five Saturdays, this is our third one, we invite any of the kids, any of the different levels, to come to the camps.”

The players learn the moves needed on the field to successful complete their job as a team player.

While the line in football, to the uneducated eye, may look like two groups of players crashing into each other, there are right and wrong ways to play your man, and position on the field.

“Last week we had quarterbacks and receivers. Next week we are doing defensive backs and running backs. They get skills sets for particular positions in football. When you’re running a team, you’ll do some of this stuff during coaching when we are running our practices – this training brings in another element of technical skills they’ll use. You have 30 players during a practice, but you can’t get to this level of detail in some positions,” Davis said.

Currently there are around 165 players registered for the 2015 season.

The Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Bantam teams and set.

The Peewee division is still recruiting but should have a full time by the time the season gets underway.

At the Tyke and Atom level, there are still openings for players who want to get involved in the sport this year.

Last season, both the Bantam and Junior Varsity Division teams won the Ontario Minor Football League championsips.

The Varsity Division went right to the end, playing in the final game but losing.

With returning veteran players, the Outlaws are in good shape for this season as many of the players know what it takes to play the sport.

“We have about 80% returning this year,” Davis said. “Our JV and Varsity team’s are looking very good. Our Bantam team is starting to come together, and our Peewee team will be competitive.”

The Outlaws have the bonus of having a lot of coaches involved with the teams.

Coaching staff divide up and each coach different offensive and defensive positions to give the players the best training possible.

“On our Varsity team we’re going to have about 11 coaches. Our JV team has nine. We had our championship team two years ago, we had two championships last year. Word gets out – Orangeville has upcoming plans. It’s a combination of coaches finding us and we’ve had some parents come out to help,” Davis explained.

As it goes in sports, winning organizations attract more interest and qualified people want to be part of a winning club.

The Ontario Minor Football League has six divisions from the entry level Tykes right up to the Varsity Division.

There are 19 centres entering teams in different divisions this season from big cities to smaller towns, but as seen in past championships, fielding a team from a large population centre doesn’t mean a team will do better on the field.

Many of the past championship teams have come from smaller centres with dedicated coaching staff and players.

The Outlaws will be making the field at Westside Secondary School in Orangeville their home base for this season.

The opening weekend for the OMFL will take place on the May 24, long weekend.

The schedule for this season has not yet been published.

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