Changes are coming to youth football across Canada and Moose Jaw Minor Football is leading the way.

Football Canada recently announced changes to the age divisions for youth football that will take effect over the next few years and are focused on continuing to make the sport safer for children.

"We're going to two-year age division," said Scott Montgomery, President of Moose Jaw Minor Football. "Bantam will be 12 and 13-year-olds, it's called U14 now; peewee will be called U12 and atom will now be called U10."

The changes will be made for the 2019 season here in Moose Jaw and they will be significant.

The Under-10 division will now be six-on-six football with no weight restrictions and in the U12 division, it will be nine-a-side football, ball carriers must be under 120 lbs. and any players over 145 lbs. will be limited to the offensive line.

For the U14 division, the players will move into full 12-on-12 football, players must be under 140 lbs to play ball carrier positions and any player over 165 lbs will play on the offensive line.

"They're looking at player safety and that's a priority for us as well," said Montgomery. "This will stop from kids playing against kids that are potentially two years older.

"All the coaches have been positive, we're implementing a system where coaches will have a four-year spread with kids. In my case, we'll take care of the U14 and U12 Vikings. They'll warm up together then split apart for play calling but it gives kids a chance to be in a system for four years instead of just two."

Registration is now open for the 2019 fall season with early bird pricing and specials for first-year players. Click here for more details.