The North Bay Bulldogs youth football program is taking advantage of the new Canadore Dome located at the Canadore College Commerce Court campus behind Pete Palangio arena in North Bay.
U12, U14 and U16 Bulldogs teams, along with the U19 ladies, and senior varsity men's mix have started indoor training this month at the new facility that opened in the late fall.
"The facilities are amazing," said Christa Morgan, head coach of the U14 Bulldogs and vice president with the football organization.
"It has got a great feel to it! It was well planned out. Parents, players and coaches alike are excited to be out early and getting things moving early."
Morgan says there are some big benefits for the organization to be able to start practicing on the turf in the Canadore Dome and do training they normally can't do until late April or early May outside in North Bay.
"We can actually get the players in their equipment and get the basics out of the way, we can set up our offence and defence and have more than two weeks to get them ready for a game," she explained.
"The players will bond quicker, the beginning of a season especially for my group which is U14 is a lot of the players are new to football, we get our returnees and we get some that played in the fall league but most have never played together. It gives us time for new players to catch up to those that have played before. With the introduction of our U12 and U19 ladies teams this year we are happy they will both get a head start on the season as well."
So far, the Bulldogs have completed a pair of dome practices.
"Week one we got into basic tackling techniques and have had them going through some stations learning lineman stances, teaching potential quarterback’s proper throwing techniques, teaching hand-offs and proper catching as well as working on footwork, and tracking on defence."
However, with football practice now a reality indoors in North Bay, some players have to do some "stickhandling" around their winter sports activities to allow them to participate. But Morgan says that's just fine.
"We encourage multi sport athletes to partake in their other sports such as hockey, basketball, and skiing," she said.
"Of course we miss having them at our football practices but each week so far we are missing a handful of players and are getting great numbers at all levels."
Morgan says all the extra time is value as it will get players prepare for game play.
"Every year I panic when the fields open and we squeeze in eight or so practices and then have a game, don’t get me wrong the kids always amaze me with how quickly they pick up on things but having the dome will get them more experience and more prepared for games," she said.
Morgan says the new facility will allow them more time to work with their new U12 age group.
"As the head coach of the U14 team for 5 years we always are asked, 'my son or daughter is 11 years old and really loves football, can they play U14?' So with great interest and a bunch of coaches interested in taking on the new team it is a reality.
"Then lead by Sydney Jacobs and Liz Tanguay a couple of young ladies who have played for the North Bay Bulldogs as well as their respective schools came to us and asked about having a ladies tackle football team this summer.
"We discussed this as an executive and thought lets get it out there and see if there is an interest and if we can find some coaches. We put it out there and presently have 20 U19 ladies out there," she said.
Morgan says the U19 ladies team is working hard and are a great group of athletes.
"We look forward to watching these girls hit the field," said Morgan.
