The South Saskatchewan Selects football program has really taken off in the past few years.

During the first year of the team, they had around 65 players come out for their tryout, while this year, the program has grown to four teams and saw over 400 players hit the field over the course of two weekends.

“We have kids driving from Prince Albert, from all over the province to tryout for the team, it's unbelievable, it's kind of blowing up,” said Zeljko Stefanovic, who started the program in 2012.

The idea of the team is based around giving players a chance to continue to play football during the winter. The Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 teams will travel down to Dallas, Texas in February to take part in the Texas School of Football tournament.

The Under-10 team has been added this year to help players in that age group work on their skills throughout the winter.

“Kids want to get better at football,” said Stefanovic. “It's a great sport, it's a great Canadian sport and we see what's been happening in southern Saskatchewan with the 4A and 3A champions from the south. Kids are playing football and want to get better at it, and this a great vehicle for that.”

From the over 400 players that tried out for the four teams, they will be trimmed down to about 36 players per team. Those players will then practice over the next two months before heading to the tournament in Dallas.

A big draw for the teams is that high quality coaching staff, which includes former CFL offensive lineman Matt Sheridan, current CFLer Addison Richards of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, local CIS players like Michael Stefanovic and Kahlen Branning and many more.

“This weekend was eight hours of football and we have coaches from all over the province, former CFL guys, some NCAA guys, Thunder and Ram guys and the kids learn a lot, the ratios are real small,” said Stefanovic.

There will be 22 practice sessions over the next two and a half months. Stefanovic is looking forward to the change in venue for this year's tournament after they went to San Antonio last year.

“Much better football, much more competitive football in Dallas than we saw in San Antonio, so it should be a really fun trip,” he said.