Two local football players - Matthew McDiarmid, 14, and Jacob Weller, 15, will be playing on the Future Stars Team for the ABC Border Bowls in Vernon, B.C. on May 28 at theGreater Vernon Athletics Park.
This game can be watched online at www.vbnsports.com
McDiarmid played for the Lions football team this year, with Weller playing for Central Alberta’s Prairie Fire football team.
It will be Weller’s second season playing for the ABC Border Bowls and McDiarmid’s first season.
Weller will be playing lineman position with McDiarmid playing receiver.
Both boys are excited to play football at a higher competition level.
“It’s exciting to go and compete against another group of kids that have about the same level of experience that we both have,” Weller said. “It’s more competition and it’s electric when you step in that stadium and play.”
Playing for the ABC Border Bowls last year Weller said it was a super fun experience.
The coaches gave a lot of knowledge to the players. Other players were there for their second year and Weller said his first year he picked up on some of their knowledge.
Now this being his second year, he has the opportunity to give younger players tips.
“It’s exciting to come back now and give my experience,” Weller said.
With this year being McDiarmid’s first year playing he said he is looking forward to being able to play outside of Alberta.
He expects the football to be better competition, seeing how the best players from Alberta and B.C. will be competing against each other.
Both boys had tried out for the team in early March and were happy to be notified they had made the team.
“I was really happy because it was the first major team that I tried out for so it was really exciting,” McDiarmid said.
He said he thought he had the chance of making the team because during try outs he saw the competition level.
“I thought I had a pretty good shot. I got the email and I was really happy,” he added.
Weller reacted happily to being notified that he had made the team for a second time.
“I was very happy about it and excited to come back and get some revenge from loosing last year,” Weller said.
Weller remembers what he envisioned the football experience to be last year prior to going to play the game.
He said he envisioned it as this big thing and being able to come out of his shell from playing hometown football. He was going into something bigger.
“The kids there take football a lot more seriously than here and that helps with their knowledge and you growing as a football player,” Weller said. “If you go play there,the energy there is so much better and it’s more exciting and more competition and people take it seriously.”
In his first year of playing for the ABC Border Bowls Weller said his respect for the game and the other players grew significantly.
He realized that he would have to work harder to be playing a professional level of football.
“It was like a big flash in my life where a switch went on and it was work,” Weller said.
From speaking with Weller and other players who have gone to ABC Border Bowls McDiarmid said he is looking forward to playing the game and meeting and befriending other players.
He said the coaches seem nice and people he can learn a lot from.
McDiarmid said he thinks he will learn new techniques and how to do things better from the coaches as the coaches there are position specific coaches.
There are coaches who will help the players be better at their specific football positions.
Knowing how the coaches teach, Weller said there are individual coaches and those coaches have all played the position they are coaching.
“They teach you the perfect technique and the exact things you know to play that position to your absolute perfection,” Weller said.
What motivated McDiarmid to try out for the team is not only learning how to play his football position better, there are many scouts at the game as well, giving more opportunities to be recognized.
Weller said he was pretty upset about loosing to B.C. last year. This year he aims to go back and help Alberta beet B.C.
“I want to come back and show them that Alberta can play football too and just as well as they can,” Weller said.
“I want to beet B.C. and have a really good game,” McDiarmid added.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com