Valkyries celebrate 10 years in Saskatoon, Yausie and players look to grow football in the north

“Growing football in the province takes looking for new ideas and being open-minded,” Yausie told paNOW. “A women’s tackle league was that new idea and it has only grown from there with Saskatchewan players consistently making national teams, including 17 out of 45 for this year’s International Federation of American Football’s World Championship in July in Finland.”

As an executive director with Football Saskatchewan, Yausie sees how that growth could continue, especially in northern Saskatchewan.

“We have girl’s high school flag, now we have the Prairie Girls Football League, with five teams in the south. We need to figure out what’s going on in the north…for us, it’s not just girls and women in football. It’s First Nations, Aboriginal, and Metis people, so football in the north, and then also new Canadians. So we need to figure out how to get new Canadians playing football if we want to keep growing.”

Surrounded by Saskatoon Valkyries alumni, the six time WWCFL championship team, including P.A.’s own Ashley Viklund, enter the Saskatoon Minor Football field for their battle against the Regina Riot. (Becky Zimmer/paNOW Staff)

One person who wants to see that growth as well is Ashely Viklund. The Prince Albert product is currently in her fourth year on the Valkyries offensive line and makes the drive from P.A. for team events, practices and games.

Besides always being open to having another driving buddy, Viklund wants to see more women from her city join a team that welcomed her with open arms, even if she was coming from their Riot rivals.

“There’s a culture here that is a lot of fun, and it’s really young and youthful and it’s just been really welcoming. As soon as I came, people were excited to have you as part of the team,” Viklund told paNOW.

“Right now, the support for girls and women playing football is scattered throughout the city with P.A. Minor Football already supporting that dream,” said Viklund.

“We could really get equipment and fields there, now we’re at the point where we need to find coaches and see if we can get the interest from players.”

That interest is there. The first-ever U18 Female National Championship that will be held in Regina in July will have some northern representation with a player from Prince Albert and one from Pinehouse.

Viklund is more than willing to offer her own time and energy to growing the sport that she loves that has given her confidence and friendship.

“If there’s any smaller programs around Northern Saskatchewan that want to welcome more women, I would be more than happy to come out to practice. Just be a face so that people can see that women in football do exist or to talk to any potential female players that might be a little bit nervous and set some of those fears aside.”

Once again the Valkyries are dominating the WWCFL’s Prairie Conference division. A 59-0 win against the Winnipeg Wolfpack on May 15 and a 43-14 win against the Manitoba Fearless on May 1 to go along with their Riot victory have ensured their first-place conference standing before they face teams from the Western Conference in the playoffs.

—

becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim

by Becky Zimmer

Valkyries celebrate 10 years in Saskatoon, Yausie and players look to grow football in the north

What's Trending