The crack of football pads was back in Moose Jaw over the weekend.

Over 300 football players from across Saskatchewan hit the turf at Yara Centre on Saturday and Sunday for the 2017 Saskatchewan Selects Football Evaluation Camp.

“The kids got 10 hours of football instruction and the kids are just loving it, it’s a great time to be playing football indoors,” said Zeljko Stefanovic, the program director for the Sask Selects.

The players are vying for spots on three teams — 12U, 14U and 16U — that will be heading down to San Antonio, Texas in early 2018 to take part in the sixth annual Pigskin International Classic.

This is the sixth year that the Sask Selects program has travelled to the United States during the winter to square off with teams from across the neighbouring country.  They took part in a tournament in Florida last season.

“Out of the 36 kids that we originally took to Texas in our first year, six years ago, 24 of those kids have commitment letters and scholarship letters to a number of universities in Canada and one in the U.S., the program has become extremely successful and more parents are seeing the advantages of putting the kids in these programs,” said Stefanovic.

This year’s camp saw players from Moose Jaw to Yorkton and Maple Creek attempting to earn a spot on the teams and play football throughout the winter.

The tournament will be played with American football rules. The players that makes the teams will come together over the course of the next two months to put their lineups together before the tournament at the end of February.

“We never know what to expect until we get everyone here for this weekend and if this weekend is any sign of things to come, everyone is absolutely pumped to be here,” said Stefanovic.

“Our offensive line for the 16U is massive, we could rival some colleges right now — we have one kid, our left guard, that’s six-foot-six, 320 pounds and our left tackle is six-foot-four, 310 pounds, so it should be a fun year… This is going to be by far the best 12U group that we’ve had a part of this program.”

The Mobile Virtual Player tackling dummy in action during the Saskatchewan Selects' 2017 Evaluation Camp at Yara Centre. (Photo: Marc Smith)

As part of the program this year, the players will be get to work with the Mobile Virtual Player tackling dummy, which is a motorized tackling dummy that will allow the program to limit the number of hits that all players will have to take over the winter.  The Sask Selects are the first youth program in Canada to put the new technology into use. That as well as baseline concussion testing will allow the program to stay focused on protecting players from head injuries.

“Parents are really concerned about concussions and so are we,” said Stefanovic. “This machine allows the players to run and chase, tackle properly without ever having to use their heads. The defensive players can practice their tackling techniques and they don’t have to practice it on another player.”

While the program is about growing better players across Saskatchewan, it’s also about improving coaches as well and this past weekend’s camp featured Super Bowl champion Anthony Davis on the field as a guest coach.

Stefanovic said it’s a great chance for the players and coaches to learn from someone that’s been to the highest level of the game.

“The kids really respond well to a guy like that and we want our coaches to mess with them and learn from them because they bring a different look and feel to the game and a different way of coaching,” said Stefanovic.  “If we learn from them, it can only be good for all of us.”

The teams will be selected over the next week and then return to Moose Jaw for practices on Dec. 2-3.  They head to Texas in late February with practices running Feb. 21-23 and the Pigskin Classic happening Feb. 24-25.

Click here for more details on the program.