BC Junior Football

Author: Tyrone Ward

Happy New Years!

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

Happy New Years to everyone in the world and especially to our beloved readers. We hope 2021 is great for all of you, and that you succeed in your ambitions this year.

We at BC Junior Football have a few things we want to see come forth out of 2021:
  1. Getting minor football back to normal with no social distancing.
  2. Seeing the latest developments in sports science related to football equipment and strategy.
  3. Increasing health and fitness.
  4. Spreading joy and laughter.

What are you looking for this year? The world is endless. Let’s get it this year! Hoorah!

Roofing Victoria BC Company Gets to Watch Football While They Work

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

The benefit of living next to a football field is that you can watch football games for free by going up onto the roof. In Victoria BC, there is housing development next to a football field and although a few games were cancelled due to poor weather the roofers have gotten to enjoy watching the game from the rooftops as they install roof shingles on the houses. Other roofing companies Victoria BC has in the area are jealous as they have nothing to watch while they work but passing cars on the streets and the occasional crow trying to eat their lunch (although this isn’t always the case, as we’ll discuss below). But is it really a benefit for the company if their roofers are distracted by football games while they work? Let’s discuss this further.

Working with distractions on a rooftop is not safe. But this roofing Victoria BC company takes safety very seriously and although all the harnesses are in place, they find it distracting every time the fans in the audience cheer during every goal scored. It takes a lot of willpower to not look when people are cheering at something, but it becomes a bit easier when you’re working a dangerous job on the roof of a three-story building. The roofers were instructed not to be distracted by the football game, and it’s a good thing they took safety as their first concern because all danger was avoided by restricting the time they watched the game to water breaks and lunchtime. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied how entertaining it was to provide roofing services right above an exciting football game.

Roofers get to see a lot when they’re working because they’re so high up in the air. They see things others never get to see. For instance, from their vantage point of residential rooftops, they were able to pinpoint all the moss outgrowths on the football field and they were brought to the city’s attention. Moss grows extensively on Vancouver Island where these roofers operate and provide their various services. Such services includes roof repair, metal roofing, roof replacement, etc. That is the extension of what a roofing contractor can do. As professionals, however, it is not condoned for them to be distracted by the events in the neighborhoods they work in. Therefore, these football games were a great challenge to overcome and the roofers learned a lot about themselves as they were able to avoid the temptation to watch the entertainment while working.

This story is a testament to professionalism in the construction industry. It reminds us that distractions are everywhere, and for construction workers like roofers these distractions can be dangerous, especially if they are as exciting as a football game. Other examples of things that distract roofers are swimming pool parties, garage sales, barking dogs and ice cream trucks. A life time of roofing therefore trains the mind and the inner discipline of the worker. When there’s so much to look at, like beautiful landscapes in the distance, it takes a lot of attention to stay focused on the job at hand. That’s why were very proud of this roofing company and what they achieved. We hope this is a lesson other young people entering the roofing industry can learn from.

Where to Find Junior Football in Vancouver BC

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

Have you been looking for Vancouver junior football? There are many leagues in Vancouver that you can quickly find online. One of the most popular leagues is the Canadian Junior Football League where Vancouver has a great team. There’s also the Vancouver Football Club with football for youth. Keep looking around because you’re bound to get your kid into a program, or find games to cheer for. One thing that’s possible with today’s social media, too, is easily making your own junior football events. Stay motivated out there, and stay tuned because soon I’ll share how I think someone motivated could easily start a new regular junior football tournament in Vancouver BC using social media!

Best of luck playing out on the field!

Is Moss Growing on Your BC Football Field?

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

Today I’m going to share a neat story and at the end I’ll expand on how this turned into a move idea.

I just had a chat today with a kind fellow in Vancouver BC while visiting a friend there. We were in the coffee shop when he noticed my son had a football. He rubbed his forehead, seemingly after a long day, and told me he had been planning to play football with his own kid today but his local park had moss all over the field. Therefore, he had spent most of the day removing the moss instead of playing football and he got very frustrated. He was in Vancouver for his late shift and his son never got to play. Not knowing what to do next, because in the process of removing the moss he had made the field even worse so they couldn’t play tomorrow, he asked me if he and his kid could play with me and mine wherever we were going to play next. I told him sure, because he seemed kind enough, and our kids got along together great.

moss

I wasn’t satisfied by just letting this guy play football with us though. I wanted to help him more, and solving his moss problem turned into a mystery game for me, as I began to interview him and find ways to solve his problem. He said, because he can’t drive, he’s limited to that one park by his house because there’s no other parks around where he lives in Surrey BC, not in short walking distance anyways, and his son is too young to walk super far. He said the city hadn’t been maintaining the small field that used to be used for soccer. The field gradually turned into a patch of weeds, and local folks maintained it the best they could for sports out of free will. This mystery was on it’s way to being solved when I began to recommend moss removal companies like Vancouver Moss Removal or for him to research the best way to maintain and control moss on grass lawns himself. He loved the idea of the moss company but wanted the city to pay for it, as no one in his neighborhood, especially him, would want that responsibility. It wouldn’t be fair.

Months later, after playing football with him a few more times, he called me up on the phone to tell me his moss mystery problem had been solved for good. After enough of his neighbors had mailed the city asking for them to maintain their sports field, a crew came into fix it up and now they plan to maintain it regularly. Good news for our friend in Surrey BC!

As you know, moss problems are pesky things and I thought I’d share this story because it shows the solution. If you can’t remove the moss on your sports field alone, there’s support out there. Either private professionals or the very city itself can help you. You’re not alone. I will certainly remember this if my field or the ones I visit are covered in moss. The moss isn’t good for football because it trips your feet up when it grows unevenly. If the whole field was just one even plain of moss though that would be fine, but if doesn’t like to grow that way!

How This Moss Mystery Problem Turned Into a Movie Idea

I really liked this story because not only was a problem solved and a new friendship made but it would also be cool in a movie if it was made on a larger scale. I love football movies and we need more of them (click here to see my favorite one) and I’ll tell you more about my idea for one now. If there was football players in the ghetto who couldn’t play and escape their rough lives with sports because their local field is dilapidated, they could fight against the city to get it repaired and in the process of fighting legally for what they want they realize they have the power to stop being criminals. They play football while also becoming lawyers, politicians and bankers. I think that would be a great emotional movie, especially if you had a lot of awesome football games in it. Feel free to steal that idea and use it because I’m not a movie producer. I just want to watch it!

I hope you like this story and learned how to solve your football field moss problem if you didn’t know how already!

On Staying Motivated: Imagine How Great The Future Will Be!

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

Working with children and young men in the field of sports means sometimes meeting people who are highly motivated and meeting others who aren’t. Today I want to touch on staying motivated, not just as a football player but as a person in general. But football still proves a good metaphor for understanding how great the future can be if only someone can stay motivated for long enough. Overall, I want to answer two questions: (1) why is staying motivated important and (2) what can you do to stay motivated?

Question One: Why is Staying Motivated Important?

Let’s compare two people to answer this question. The first person is a football player who never practices much because they’re not motivated and the second person is a football player who practices multiple times a week because they’re full of motivation. What do you expect each of their results will look like out on the football field? I expect that the person who is motivated and practices will perform much better than the person who stays at home and doesn’t practice. This is a metaphor for life in general, proving why it’s important to be motivated. People who go out and follow their dreams succeed in life and have more to enjoy from their efforts than someone who doesn’t, and this goes for everything. So if you want to reach wealth, buy the house and car of your desire, then it’s important to use motivation to your advantage, otherwise you’ll perform poorly like the football player who never practiced before the game.

Question Two: What Can You Do To Stay Motivated?

For many of the junior football players I’ve worked with, this tactic always seems to work for helping kids become more motivated. What you must do is imagine a future where you have worked hard for many years and compare it to a future where you have barely worked at all. This is similar to the results you get from practicing and not practicing for a football game. If you want to perform well in life, you must work hard. The trick is finding something you love enough to work hard when others feel like staying home. For me it’s coaching junior football, but for you it could be wanting to write the next great Canadian novel. Imagine a future where your dreams have come true, and this may be all you need to stay motivated. This works because as you begin to work towards your dream you also begin to grow faith in yourself. Having a big dream come true is very hard with a lack of motivation, and I know you can do it!

To read more, please visit our Stay Motivated page. I hope you have great success in your mission!

Hamilton Towing Company Replaces A Football After Driving It Over

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

As promised, I have a few miraculous stories from my recent trip to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and here is one of them! A story about a group of burly tow truck operators having sweet hearts is a miracle to me, especially as all the towing operators in Vancouver are mostly pricks who would keep driving and pay no heed if they ran over a kid’s ball. But not the ones in Hamilton. This story brought tears to my eyes and I don’t think no amount of writing could ever give it justice. You would really have to be there to see the look on the kids’ faces and how kind the tow truck drivers were when they came back from the sports store with a brand new football. So here’s the story from start to finish.

Part One: The Football Goes Over the Fence

Before the game, us Vancouver people were practicing in a field, tossing the old pigskin around and getting pumped up for the game tomorrow. One of our best throwers was passing high when the ball went over the fence and flew onto the road. It just so happened that a tow truck was cruising down that very road in the precise timing to flatten the ball and everyone in that park heard the pop! After we and heard it none of ever thought we’d be getting the football back, and we also realized how unprepared we were because THAT WAS OUR ONLY FOOTBALL!

Part Two: We Mope Around At Loss of What To Do

After the tow truck was long gone, we all huddled at the center of the field, and someone cracked the joke, “I hope the Hamilton boys remember to bring a ball!” One of the staff said, “No worries. I’ll go buy another one right now.” Either way, there was no way we were going to mope around for too long. We came to Hamilton to play a football game and that was what we were going to do.

Part Three: Tow Truck Returns and Puts Smiles on All the Kids’ Faces

Just when were were slinging our bags over our shoulders and heading out to the parking lot where the school bus was parked, we heard a rumbling and turned the see the selfsame tow truck rolling into the parking lot behind us. One student who was just entering the bus turned around and we all stared for a moment. When the truck stopped beside us, we read the towing company’s business name. They said they drive the nicest tow truck Hamilton has to sport. I could not agree more and as soon as we saw their door open and the football in their hands, all the kids jumped up and down and laughed. The operator threw it to the same kid who had thrown it over the fence, perhaps by coincidence and then before we knew it we were back on the field practicing again. I got the company’s business card and will make sure to choose them if I ever need roadside assistance in that part of Ontario. If this were to happen in Vancouver, I can already assure you that we would never see another football again that day unless we went and bought it ourselves.

The End

So, it’s probably no sad story to make you cry but if you’re as sensitive as me you definitely would have cried if you saw the story happen in person. All the kids cheering and the tow truck driver sacrificing his own time to make us happy even though popping the ball wasn’t his fault was a beautiful moment I can only call a miracle, and that’s something I’ll never forget about Hamilton! Some of the kids will certainly be glad to read this story again and share it with their family. Even though we lost, we had a great time in Ontario and won’t regret the road trip.

Expect more stories like this from www.bcjuniorfootball.ca and have a great evening! Cheers!

 

Private Game #1 Review: Vancouver BC vs. Hamilton ON

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

The other week a BC junior football team from Vancouver traveled to Hamilton, Ontario to play an anticipated football game. It’s not very often that a private game of this sort is played, but a rivalry between a school in Vancouver and a school in Hamilton could only end one way… Both teams were tired of saying one was better than the other online, so a game in person was settled.

On Sept 6th, 2019, the Hamilton minor football team drubbed the Vancouver team with a whopping 18 point lead, and almost every point was a touchdown. One Vancouver boy was injured from a sprained ankle after being tackled by a Hamilton boy twice his size. Over all, the Hamilton kids were much larger and in better shape than the Vancouver kids, and this is why I think the results were what they were.

While visiting Hamilton for the first time to spectate a friend who was playing, I had a few amazing stories that should be called miracles happen to me unrelated to football, and these will be discussed in my next post later today. For anyone interested in learning more about the game that took place in Hamilton on Sept 6th for research purposes, please contact us.

Bye for now,

How to Motivate Your Kids to Play Sports

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

Nowadays, with the internet and all, kids are wont to stay at home and get lazy. Well, not all the time kids are lazy online. I believe kids have the potential to make great and innovative careers on the internet, but that still doesn’t mean it’s okay to sit in a chair all day and get a bad back at the age of 14. Kids need exercise just as much as adults, and so here for you parents who need some help getting your kids to be more active, I have 3 tips for you!

Now these 3 tips are a little unconventional but they’re what works for my family. So let’s begin!

3 Tips to get Your Kids Playing Sports

  1. If your kids have a lack of care for their health and don’t think it’s important to be active, shame them by showing them images of unhealthy fat adults who wish they had been more active in their lives. Like I said, this is unconventional but it really works! It’s the same tactic we use to get people to stop smoking. Praising smokers would never work, nor would praising unhealthy adults who could have made better choices if only they had parents as diligent as you! So try this, and although it may give your kids some temporary fear, this fear is what will drive them to change their actions. Remind them that life is long and it would be horrible that if by the age of 50, when they still have many years left to live, they’re so out of shape that people stare at them on the road.
  2. Teach them the cognitive benefits of exercise and show them Ted Talks and scientific articles proving how brain function can improve with getting lots of exercise. Of course, one must be careful with such sports as boxing and football for brain injury but this is good education, too, and the positives of brain performance enhancement due to playing football can outweigh the negatives if one is careful and wears the proper gear. In combination with teaching your kids this, show them how the world’s most successful people relied on their brain function. Even if they weren’t intelligent people, brain function is needed to solve problems and see opportunities and sports can enhance this.
  3. Now perhaps this third tip is the most unconventional piece of advice you’ll ever hear in this regard, but it works the best. You want to have your kids motivated to play sports. You don’t want them to do it just because they want to make you proud. So whatever you do don’t punish your kids for not being active. Instead, reward them for being active. Say to them, “If you join a sports team I’ll buy you a car when you reach grade 12.” Or even better say, “If you join a minor football team and stay active, by the time you’re in university you’ll be ripped, muscular and all the ladies (or studs) will love you. You’ll live a long healthy life and will be able to outrun everyone. You’ll be so fit that people will be jealous of you. And, also, for a reward, I’ll pay for your clothes until you graduate from university, so that you not only look toned and in shape, but fly as well!”

If all else doesn’t work, try one or two, perhaps all three of these tips and see what happens. It’ll take effort on both your part and your kids’ part to get them healthy and active. Good luck!

Delving Into Other Sports – Nothing Wrong With It

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

Tired of football? Or is the season over? You know, there’s nothing wrong with falling in love with other sports every now and then. As a mad football lover I felt guilty for years every time I went through a hockey or soccer binge. But now I know it’s normal. After all, there are hundreds of sports. There are even more if you want to include such things as skydiving, scuba-diving and cliff jumping as sports.

Here is a list of all the many sports I found myself binge-ing over when I was bored of football:

  1. Tennis
  2. Golf
  3. Boxing
  4. Dirt-biking
  5. Racing
  6. Hockey
  7. Soccer
  8. Frisbee golf
  9. Skying
  10. Snowboarding
  11. Lacrosse
  12. UFC
  13. WWE
  14. Field hockey
  15. Poker
  16. Fishing

Those, besides football, are my favorite. The only ones I practiced myself were hockey, soccer and tennis. The rest I love to watch on TV. So don’t feel bad next time you find yourself straying away from football for a while, especially if you know you’ll eventually come back to football because it’s your passion. So I hope that relieved some tensions. Just wanted to share. Thanks for reading.

Football is one of the best things in the world, but it isn’t everything, so don’t beat yourself up. After all, it isn’t your wife. It won’t get mad at you if you cheat on it. So go out there and explore. Have fun!

Retired Football Coach Becomes Appliance Repair Mechanic

Posted on by Tyrone Ward

By reading the headline of this post, you may think there’s nothing remarkable here. But this story is very remarkable. In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, there lives an old man. For identity security we’ll call him Jim. Jim is 76 years old today (happy late birthday, Jim!). And, yes, you read that right. Jim is 76. His story is remarkable because at this prime age he decided to come out of retirement because, in his words, “repairing appliances in Vancouver BC is so fun!”

I happened to meet Jim when he was repairing my dad’s broken washing machine and I loved his story so much I decided to post about it. Jim, for over 30 years, taught junior football for various middle schools across British Columbia. If you’re a big fan of local junior football, you may have even heard of him. Jim’s childhood dream was playing in the NFL but due to a minor bone disease he was at best only able to coach football. Jim says he has more energy than most 20-year-olds, and was only in retirement for three weeks before, as he put it, “craved something to do so bad he took up fixing the neighborhood’s appliances.” It only took about a month of this before he decided to submit a resume to work at the first appliance repair company in Vancouver BC that he could reach.

Jim still loves football, and he never misses a game for the team he used to coach. They have a new coach now. And even Jim admits the new one is better. He’s very proud of his team, but not as proud as his wife is of him for bringing home all that extra cash from fixing appliances. I think this story is a great motivational lesson for people like me who fear old age. Jim is a great example of staying young at heart. He plans to keep attending football games and repairing appliances right into his 90s if he can.

Today you can find Jim, under his real name of course, at one of Vancouver BC’s best appliance repair companies: http://www.werepairappliances.ca/

Jim is a great advocate of working hard, and I look up to him for that. Working for an appliance repair company may not be romantic or ideal for many, but Jim is very content. He’s satisfied with the life he’s lived and throughout British Columbia hundreds of young men remember him as their favorite football coach. I for one can vouch he’s a good man. And he’s very good at fixing appliances. It’s no wonder he chose this field. My dad’s washing machine works better than it did a year ago. But I doubt he’s better at fixing washers than he used to be at coaching football for minors. BC junior football owes a lot to this man. I’m very proud of him. My dad has become somewhat close friends with him as they have a lot in common. I for one hope I can have a friend like that when I’m in my 70s.

So thanks Jim. Thank you for being an inspiration and help to my family. You’re the man!

For my regular readers, let me know if you enjoy interesting stories like this. My plan for the future is to focus more on junior football, but if you like stories like this I have a lot more to share. Don’t forget to stay motivated and check back frequently for more posts and updates. Bye for now!