Communication and collaboration key factors for Return to Football in Alberta

By Mike Still 

With over 30 years of experience as Executive Director for Football Alberta, Tim Enger understands the importance of communication and collaboration. These skills have been particularly valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When everything started shutting down in the spring, Enger met weekly with directors of the other three western provinces via zoom. These conversations continued on a consistent basis for the next few months, and helped form a framework for each location’s return to play proposal.

“A lot of the cohorting stuff that we pitched to the government actually came from some of the initial stuff Saskatchewan was doing, and we did have conference calls with the rest of Canada,” said Enger. “That was really invaluable at the beginning to try and figure out best practices between the four western provinces.”

Minor football a go in the summer

Alberta was the first of the western provinces to submit their return to play documents, and were approved to go at the minor football level as of June 12, which coincided with phase two of reopening. Roughly 75 percent of the province’s community tackle programs are currently engaged in some form of the sport.

“What we called it was football with restrictions. It wasn’t full-go. There were limited numbers – cohorts of 50. Initially it was just stay with your own team, but as the summer progressed, we were constantly having conversations with the ministry responsible for sport and Alberta Health Services (AHS). They did a really good job,” said Enger.

“We always talked about different ways of running your cohorts and how many cohorts your kid could be involved with. It all kind of evolved as it went along. In certain cases, leagues have been innovative enough to set up some kind of schedule where teams are playing against each other with smaller rosters of course and all the requirements necessary to meet Alberta Health standards. If you’d asked me in April, I wouldn’t have thought we’d be able to get to that phase.”

Enger and the rest of the team at Football Alberta worked directly with the SPAR (Sport and Recreation) unit, who then acted as a conduit to AHS. According to Enger, getting Alberta Health comfortable with teams breaking the social distancing barrier of six feet, as well as keeping traceable numbers was key.

“We worked on that, and then at the same time we talked to our insurance broker and a lot of experts within physio and training to try to get their idea of how they could relate to this. It was a bit complicated, but we then sent it in through SPAR to Alberta Health, and it was approved to go.

The main thing that I think maybe sets Alberta apart just in general from a lot of the other provinces I’ve been hearing, is that our government agencies were always willing to consider stuff to open up. They kind of left it to us to make sure that we met the recommendations. So far, so good. We’ve been at this for over 110 days and we’ve had no reported cases of spread with our programs.”

Enger’s long-standing relationships with members of SPAR made return to play communication easier.

“All of the people I’ve been dealing with at the SPAR unit are people that I’ve known for over 20 years. You’re not just dealing with colleagues, in some cases you’re dealing with friends, so there’s a good working relationship to try and bring things forward. If people at that level that I’ve known for quite some time tell me that something’s not going to work, then they’re not just pulling my leg. I trust their opinion. And also if they give me the thumbs up, that’s good to go too.”

High School football in Medicine Hat a go

The Alberta High Schools Athletic Association is also in phase two of return to play, with ten percent of the province’s high school teams “currently doing something,” according to Enger. The vast majority of schools are playing it safe, with the hopes of returning to the gridiron in the spring.

Medicine Hat, located in Southern Alberta and fielding Tier 3 football programs, is one area in the province where teams are full go.

Long-time Medicine Hat High School head coach Quinn Skelton, who’s on the Board of Directors at Football Alberta, has been able to get meaningful competition against other squads all throughout the fall.

In order to get the green light, a diligent Skelton was required to “fill out a full bible’s-worth of documents to his school board, Enger says.

“The lead kind of took place with Football Alberta getting the minor football back for atom, peewee and bantam. It’s been adapting with Alberta Health Services as it’s gone along,” added Skelton.

“Here locally we got our superintendent and our administrators involved with it. We’re small. Our public district is only two high schools, and then one catholic school and one rural. We had good support, and we followed all the guidelines set by AHS. Our admin also came up with policy and procedure guidelines for us locally. We’ve been following that.”

At practice, Skelton and his coaching staffs are masked up. The kids are also kept in separate cohorts.

“Our group of about 45 kids, we’ve got a senior JV group and we have them literally in different coloured jerseys, and they change at different times. They warm up and run skills and drills and treat it like two entirely different teams. It’s definitely a different type of practice and situation compared to my last 30 years, but on the bright side it’s really pushed us into working with all the younger guys in a whole different capacity. They’ve gotten great attention and development, and it’s been a real blessing in disguise.”

Skelton’s positive attitude amidst the pandemic has been invaluable. Personally, helping his students get back to a “sense of normality” on the football field has been one of the most rewarding parts of the uncharted experience.

“The first days were incredible, in getting to see the kids eyes light up being back on the field having fun. It felt like a cloud lifted off of everyone. Overall, I think there’s a true sense of appreciation in getting to be out there, being part of the game again and having something to look forward to at the end of the school day.”

This post is also available in: French