Rhino’s Ramblings - This Fall’s Sports Coverage
By Robert Thomas Opinion/Commentary
For those in the know this weekend’s - Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and into the evening - is something that has literally been months in planning and literally years in the making.
The dream to bring Moose Jaw’s football world into one place, one field, one roof - well OK maybe not under a dome - but you get the gist of what I mean.
All football eyes in the community are going to be focused on Elks Athletic Field which for years or rather decades been the home of first the Elks and then the Kinsmen sponsored Moose Jaw Minor Football League.
A dream to have football played in one place in the community.
Perhaps someday pool resources into one field and then have a better field not just for the minor football program but also for the three high school teams as well.
For many people it makes common sense.
And in today’s urban development it’s something being done in communities big and small. Take funds from the municipality and pool them with school money to create a better utilized and better funded community park.
Usually the parks are developed around a school but in the case of Elks Athletic Field it’s actually in the community but the hopes are it will be used someday to include the high school games there as well.
Vikings, Tornadoes, Cyclones and Devils
When you take a look at the names of the teams playing high school football under the lights this Friday afternoon you would have to say it looks like some type of cataclysmic event is set to hit Elks Field Friday evening.
The Vanier Vikings are set to officially enter the world of 9 man or 9-aside football.
This could be an interesting year for the Vikings who at one time were a highly competitive powerhouse in the 12 man or 12-aside football world.
But with a smaller demographic basis or student body the Vikings have sadly found themselves struggling and moved to 9-aside play to have a better opportunity to be competitive.
On the other side of the coin you will see the great rivalry continue in 12-aside play with the Central Cyclones taking on the Peacock Tornadoes.
Although the Cyclones are ranked by many football followers as in the top three in their division don’t be surprised to see the Tornadoes come out strong in this one.
It is also likely the last time MJ Independent will be actively covering the 12-aside league this year other than updated scores from the game sheets as we focus on the lesser covered areas of sport.
With other media coverage of the league as well as both teams fielding their own photographers the philosophy at MJ Independent is to focus on other areas in the community with less media coverage or to add to the coverage.
We took a look at soccer, cross country plus golf but given how difficult it was to get some sort of schedule plus conflicts with other commitments we are sorry but they are sadly potential stories left on the cutting room floor.
9-Aside Coverage
With the Vanier Vikings playing in the Conference 2 9-Aside football league our preliminary plans are to hopefully hit the road - if possible - and cover some of the league’s and Vikings road games.
It looks like when the Vikings head into the southwest I can potentially reschedule personal commitments - yes I do have a life - to put me close enough to cover some of their road games.
Volleyball
We have the high school senior boys and girls schedules for volleyball and this is an area we are hoping to cover more this season.
It’s sort of our counterbalance so to speak in our sports coverage.
We are also working with the Thunder Creek Volleyball Club to increase our coverage of the non-profit club.
Basketball
And of course then comes our coverage of both junior and senior girls and boys basketball.
Plans call for us to continue that coverage.
I’m hoping to get in some coverage of one of the elementary school leagues as well.
Gymnastics
Although I haven’t seen a schedule yet I personally committed to providing more coverage to Gymtastiks and their programs whether it be by my attending their events or through submissions to us.
Equestrian Events
Of course we are not abandoning our coverage of equestrian events - the bread and butter of our sports coverage except for Milestone Female Flyers game coverage.
We were asked to head up to Lumsden for female hockey this winter and still considering it.
Yes We Are Missing Lots
And that’s basically our planned sport’s coverage and yes it’s an aggressive move into sports this fall.
All I can do is to apologize for missing more than a fair share of events out there and can only offer in far too many cases for teams or people to submit their photos and write up’s to moosejawnews@gmail.com.