Former Bombers coach up local football players

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This article was published 16/07/2018 (2819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Kito Poblah wants more kids playing football in Manitoba and to have better fundamentals on the field.

The receiver brought along former linebacker Lamar McGriggs and defensive back Boyd Barrett to tutor 50 young local football players in Brandon on Sunday evening. The kids, who each paid $50 to Poblah’s Finish First Football company out of Winnipeg, were between ages nine and 14 and members of the Westman Youth Football Association.

“We’re basically here to help expand youth football across the province,” Poblah said. “With the Manitoba Selects, we have been able to get the younger kids from across the province to develop a team that goes down to the States every year.

“I was a part of the U18 team last year and got the chance to actually see the kids play. One thing I realized is that by the time they got there, a lot of the fundamentals they should have known weren’t at the level that they should have already been. I thought, OK, let’s get the younger kids involved to this process a lot earlier and that’s kind of how the whole thing started.”

Leanne Sharp, WYFA’s vice-president, said Westman under-12 Wolverines coach Drew Clayton had heard that Poblah was trying to get in touch with Brandon coaches. Clayton contacted Poblah and the former CFLer attended the league’s championship day on June 23.

After watching a few games, he asked if he could bring his skills and evaluation camp to Brandon to scout local players for potential involvement in the company’s Selects team that will head down to San Antonio in February.

It proved to be a hit.

“The kids, every time they came in for a drink of water or Gatorade, I asked them how they were enjoying it and they all gave me the thumbs-up,” Sharp said. “They’ll be tired. They worked them hard but it’s been an awesome day for them. I’m just so proud of our boys.”

Poblah enjoyed a four-year career in the Canadian Football League from 2011 to 2014 with the Bombers and the B.C. Lions. In 51 games, he caught 68 passes and scored a pair of receiving touchdowns.

The youngsters soaked in every word of the details of the drills from Poblah, the National Football League and CFL veteran McGriggs and Bennett, a product of Jamaica who played 17 games with the Bombers between 2003 and 2005.

Poblah noticed how closely they paid attention to learn about the drills, which were done without pads at Vincent Massey.

“Those are the kids we want,” Poblah said. “Those are the kids who actually want to get better and be pushed a little bit more. We do feel that when you’re competing at a high level against kids as good or maybe better than you and pushing you, the details are very important. Listening and the intangibles really matter at that point. The skill doesn’t matter at that point. You see a lot of these kids when we have camps, are very attentive. They love football too. It’s great to see, and it was awesome.”

Poblah adds the top performers to a watch list, with an all-star game set at the end of the season. He next hosts a camp in Winnipeg on July 29.

He was pleased with the quality out on the field.

“You know what? I saw a lot of good players out here,” Poblah said. “I wasn’t surprised because I came down here during spring football and I saw a lot of talent.”

The Selects — which are separate from Football Manitoba’s provincial youth teams — currently have kids from Winnipeg, Steinbach, Morris and Oakbank involved.

Brandon’s growing youth association could be a boon for Poblah and football in what he says is a sport that is seeing less interest in some places. He’s determined to reverse that trend.

“There had been a decline in football but I think bringing excitement back and bringing a purpose back to the sport is exactly what’s been missing and that’s what we’re trying to fulfil,” Poblah said. “Bringing that excitement from taking kids from Manitoba down to San Antonio, Texas to compete against kids who do this all the time, and go down there and actually be able to compete, only brings back confidence for us to be able to compete against the Saskatchewans, Ontarios and Albertas when we face them in the Canada Cups.”

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