Upstart Cornwall

Does Football Make A Difference?

I graduated from high school in 1995 and at the time - there was 1 high school football team in the area. They were the Optimist Wildcats and were essentially a high school team made up of players from each school in town. Our “All-stars” would play against smaller schools from Brockville and area and compete in their league. There was not enough interest or volunteers in Cornwall to build Football programs - so our schools just played together versus smaller schools in a smaller town.

Now, there are 6 schools with Football teams (CCVS, St. Joe’s, Holy Trinity, Tagwi and junior teams at GV and St. Lawrence). Football has become a major high school sport in the area in very few years. Our boys are out there playing and competing with the schools in Brockville on a weekly basis. The Freeholder does a great job at covering the matches and the games are well attended.

Having attended a small university where Football was a huge Saturday event I never understood why the sport wasn’t popular in Cornwall. I’ve never played - but I enjoy the games. I enjoy watching them and cheering for my team and I enjoy the atmosphere created by a good football game. Football brings out a certain pride that I don’t see from other sports. People go out and watch “The” team and cheer for their school, much more then other sports. It helps create a sense of pride that I think was really lacking in Cornwall’s youth.

What does this have to do with Cornwall? Well - for one - it is a positive experience that our youth are enjoying. If we want to keep our youth in town, it helps if they enjoy their time here. As well - people in Brockville, Kingston, Arnprior, Renfrew and Ottawa are starting to notice that our teams are becoming very competitive. This helps build our reputation in Cornwall - granted in small amounts - but small positive amounts is a great step in the right direction. Hopefully some of these kids will start playing College Football soon and start letting people know where they are from. Pride is a funny thing - but it can work wonders sometimes with youth, and hopefully with our entire community.

I know that there are lots of volunteers and coaches running these teams - and I salute them. I personally volunteer to coach a high school basketball team because I feel like I am making a difference. Hopefully the sense of pride being instilled in our youth today will pay off huge dividends in the future.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Does Football Make A Difference?”

1. Michael Says:
   November 15th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

   I think that anything that gets people into the community is a positive thing and sports is a big one. That’s why I think it’s so important to think big with the 4 pad, as other communities have rinks falling apart Cornwall can become a destination for tournaments bringing in both the players and families for the weekend and thousands of dollars in revenue to our hotels, restaurants, and local retailers. Becoming a hub for development doesn’t happen with one thing but building the foundation with high school sports teams is a big start to introducing others to our community.

2. Coach Jamey Says:
   November 24th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

   It sounds like the high school you volunteer for is very lucky to have you. Football does now have it’s roots planted and I think it will only grow. I know that the sport will open many doors for these players and look forward to seeing them grow. Thanks for the insite.

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