Minor Leagues: Midget
Calgary and Area Parkinson Division
Calgary Falcons
An interview with Jovan Vujinovic
What was your general impression of last season?
Last season was another positive growth year for the Falcons, as a young organization wining the Division 2 City Championship for the second season in a row was fantastic. It shows continued development and a strong base to move forward from. The bulk of our players last year were grade 10's, who we leaned heavily on all season. Our grade 9's ended up in some key roles for us which put our team in an awkward position asking those guys to hold the line VS more experienced teams that had loads of grade 11's. The few grade 11's we did have were dynamite (we just needed more of them) and we were sad to see them graduate. That being said it was great to see our team grow and overcome adversity to capture that Division 2 title.
Who are your key players in the coming season?
We have 3 returning players from the Football Alberta U17 Team that played in a National Championship that will lead the charge. Jeff Shidlowsky at running back will be an explosive threat on offence and in the return game. Mike Stolzenberg is our leader on defence playing a hybrid DB/LB position he should continue to pose problems for offences. While Brayden Bullen returns as a defensive back to help anchor our secondary.
The team will also look to second year starter Cooper Gradishar at quarterback to lead us on offence. Chris Elser returns to bolster the offensive line. While our young guns should start to make their presence felt: Patrick Burns at running back and grade 9 Kurtis Paley at linebacker could both have immediate success.
What are the key aspects of your program?
At the Falcons we treat our responsibility to our players very seriously. Winning is not the be all end all, the goal is to help these young men grow as people and to teach them the skills necessary to play football at the next level.. For our grade 9's that means preparing them for High School football. The focus for our grade 10's is to give them the needed jump to get them ready for Senior football. For the grade 11's it is ensuring that they leave with the necessary skills to have a successful grade 12 campaign but more importantly it is to give them the chance to play Junior or University football.
To do this our coaching staff has high expectations along with tremendous knowledge that we can pass off to our players. All of our coaches at the midget level are former University or Junior players so the skill level taught is quite high. Over the last 2 seasons we have had more than 75% of our graduating seniors play post secondary football with 7 players last season alone making all-star teams such as U17, and Bantam North South.
What are your expectations for this coming season?
This upcoming season should be very exciting for our players and parents. The grade 10's we leaned on so heavily last year are now mature grade 11's. They are matched with a talented group of grade 10's and some strong grade 9's. We had an influx of players from programs like, St.Mary's, Western, Scarlett, Central and Rundle that will compliment our group of players from Wisewood. As those programs experience their resurgence our team will only get better. This year after 2 seasons on the Division 2 side of things we are aiming to be competitive with the Division 1 teams.
How do we get more information about your program?
More info for our program can be found at:
http://www.falconfootball.ca/Midgets.html
Team Manager: Whitney Issik: 403-703-5695 or e-mail: whitney.issik@telus.com
Head Coach: Jovan Vujinovic: 403-615-8004 or e-mail: jovujinovic@gmail.com
