You’ve come a long way, baby!

I took time last week to attend the Valley Minor Football Association’s annual awards evening in Canning. I really wanted to be there to help celebrate a really special year for minor football.

I have to agree with VMFA president Randy Lawrence, who suggested the 2008 season “has been quite a 10th anniversary present.”

While we’ve had our share of athletic successes here in Kings County, provincial championships don’t come along nearly often enough for them to be “old hat;” two in the same year - that’s pretty special.

Nine years ago, there was no organized football at all here in the Valley. Now, there are VMFA teams at three levels – atom, peewee and bantam; plus a second association in Windsor-West Hants. High school football is being played at NKEC, Avon View, Horton and Central Kings.

Lawrence recalled early days when he, Tom Nichols and Devon Adams, the VMFA’s longest-serving coach; all wore several hats: coaching, fundraising and running the association.

The bantams have had the most success of the Valley teams over the years but, this year, they had the kind of season you dream about: they won all their games other than one scoreless tie, captured the provincial Tier 1 championship then added a Maritime Football Union title. It was the second provincial title in three years for the bantams, and a first for head coach Larry Priestnall, VMFA ‘Coach of the Year.” Adams, an assistant with the bantams this season, was also recognized for his 10 seasons’ coaching.

The peewee Bulldogs won the provincial Tier 2 championship. Peewee head coach Steve Melanson (Football Nova Scotia’s Coach of the Year for 2007) and his staff deserve a lot of credit for being patient, and allowing a young team to develop at its own pace.

The atom Bulldogs made the playoffs, too – the first time all three teams had qualified for the post-season in the same year.

What the VMFA has been able to accomplish over the past decade is quite remarkable. Just getting a team fitted out and on the field was a major accomplishment. Lawrence recalled, “we had one practice with our new gear before we played our first game the very next day. It was an away game, and we won 33-0. I thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool a start’. “We never won another game the rest of the season.”

I’m glad the people who started the association are around to see the fruits of their labours. If it was me, I know I’d feel a great sense of satisfaction.