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Head Eagle has eyes on the future

The new president of the Greater Okotoks Football Association certainly fits the bill when it comes to the gridiron in the foothills area.
Bryan Brandford, principal of Okotoks Junior High School, has been named the new president of the Greater Okotoks Football Association.
Bryan Brandford, principal of Okotoks Junior High School, has been named the new president of the Greater Okotoks Football Association.

The new president of the Greater Okotoks Football Association certainly fits the bill when it comes to the gridiron in the foothills area.

Bryan Brandford, who is the principal at Okotoks Junior High School, has coached foothills football players who live from Longview to Blackie and from Nanton to DeWinton.

Brandford and the Greater Okotoks Football Association (GOFA) now have a vision as big as the foothills area it represents.

“We have a vision to build a program and not just be a group of separate teams,” Brandford said.

GOFA was formed last year when the former Foothills Eagles and Foothills Falcons minor football associations amalgamated to ensure there were enough players to field healthy-sized football teams and address other issues such as travel costs.

Brandford was a board member with GOFA last year and he said he was pleased with the success of the program in its first year. The Foothills Eagles were one of the top teams in the Calgary Bantam Football Association. As well, the program fielded teams at the Atom and Peewee level. They hope to revive the Midget program for the spring of 2012.

Brandford said he wants the players to think of themselves as Eagles as they go through the program from Atom to Midget.

However, as a former high school head coach of the Oilfields Drillers, where he won multiple Tier IV provincial championships, as well as a coach with the Highwood Mustangs in High River, he knows the importance of minor football to high school programs.

“One of the first things we have done is ask for representation from the high schools to sit on our board,” Brandford said. “We want them to have a voice and to give us input.”

One of the schools includes the Oilfields Drillers in Black Diamond, which has not fielded a high school team for the past two years. He said if the Eagles can develop players in Black Diamond at the younger ages, it will benefit the Drillers in the future.

The Foothills Composite High School Falcons, the Holy Trinity Academy Knights and the Highwood Mustangs will also have representation on the GOFA board.

The Eagles are not only developing players, but also coaches. They will be hosting coaching clinics, which will ensure they are on the same page and speaking the same language.

Literally.

Get a group of football coaches together and you practically need a UN translator to understand what is going on.

“You could have different names for a cornerback for example,” Brandford said. “We want to set things up so we have consistency as much as possible.”

However, the main aim of GOFA is to get foothills area youths playing football.

Brandford is also the coach for the Team Alberta U-18 team, which will play in the Canada Cup this summer. He has also won four Vanier Cups with the University of Calgary Dinosaurs, one as a player and three as a coach.

Registration for the upcoming football season with the Eagles is April 9 at St. Mary’s School in Okotoks from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Atoms are from eight to 10 years of age, Peewee 11 to 12, and Bantam 13 to 15.

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