Today we are extremely excited and proud to announce that the Gatineau Vikings have been accepted into the Montreal Regional Football League (MRFL), a AAA developmental football league for boys and girls aged 11 to 13, and into the Quebec Bantam Football League (QBFL) for boys and girls aged 14 and 15. The QBFL is considered to be among the top 3 leagues in the entire country.
We are also extremely pleased to announce that we have put together a coaching staff that we feel any University in Quebec would be pleased to call its own. Our Bantams will be lead by Wayne Jacobs and Ken Evraire. Wayne played NCAA football for the UTEP Miners and is the current coach of the semi-pro Ottawa Invaders. After completing a stellar university football career for Laurier University, Ken played 9 seasons in the CFL for the Ottawa Rough Riders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders. In 1992, while with the Tiger-Cats, he won the Lew Hayman Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding Canadian in the Eastern Division. Both coaches bring years of experience and have deep connections to CEGEP and University programs which will be of great advantage to players in our program going forward.
Even though the Vikings are stepping up into the big leagues of youth football in the province, our primary goal as a Club is not to solely win games. During our preliminary discussions with both coaches it became crystal clear very quickly that they shared the same vision that the Vikings have always had, that the player and their development was of the utmost importance. In the short history the Vikings, we have seen former players go from high school stand-outs, to CEGEP stars and on to rookies at the university level. We have also had 4 of our former players win National Championships with Team Quebec.
The addition of our AAA program, will allow us to better prepare our players to play CEGEP football, while giving them the skills to succeed at that level.
We tell our kids “work hard, keep your feet moving and don’t be afraid to go for it”, we are going to take or own advice. The Gatineau Vikings will continue to move forward and develop the game of football in the Outaouais region. We are already the most successful program for football players under 15 years of age in the region. In 5 years we plan on being the most successful youth football program in the province.
Registration for the Pee-Wee and Bantam AAA teams open up on April 1st. A spring camp will start in the first week of May.
