Bills cater to their youngest fans

Youngs Sportsplex in Welland was a sea of Buffalo Bills’ blue and red colours Saturday afternoon.

Football Ontario reached out to the Niagara Regional Minor Football Association about a partnership with the National Football League club and the first step in that partnership was a well-attended clinic in Welland.

“It was a really good opportunity for us and all we had to do was supply the coaches,” NRMFA director Jim Storin said. “As you can see, we exceeded the 150 limit and we’re at 161ish kids. We also have about 13 coaches and five or six volunteers helping out.”

All the kids in attendance seemed to be having a blast and they received a Buffalo Bills T-shirt, a Josh Allen poster and some Bills Play 60 initiative Eye Black to take or wear home with them.

“We are really excited to be working with the Niagara Regional Minor Football Association,” said Preston Teague, the Bills’ senior director of community relations and youth football. “We reached out to Football Ontario because we wanted to engage with youth football players, both tackle and flag, in the Southern Ontario/Niagara region. It is a big part of our market and the Bills community and we have a ton of fans coming down on a normal basis to watch the games.

“We have a lot of children who are Bills fans and we wanted to give back to the kids and families who support us through thick and thin.”

Teague was pleased with the response to the program.

“We put the registration out — it is a free camp —but it sold out in three days. There’s a lot of excitement and today is about having fun, teaching some fundamentals, football skills and drills at each position whether it is wide receiver, running back, defensive back or D line.”

Teague is looking forward to a continued partnership with the local minor football association.

“We are hoping this is the first of many events that we are able to do and hopefully when the border opens up a little bit more, we can get some players, alumni and coaches to come up.”

A recent Buffalo News article suggested 20-25 per cent of the Buffalo Bill’s season ticket holders were Canadian.

‘We have a Monday night home game and we are hoping as many people come down to the game as our able to,” Teague said. “As I mentioned before, Southern Ontario, the Niagara region and the Greater Toronto Area is a key part of our market. We have a lot of fans up there and they are super supportive year in and year out.”

All is quiet on the minor football front right now but the association is presently taking registrations for its summer minor house league tackle program and Niagara Generals travel tackle program.

“Our goal, as always, is to run our local league because that is what we do and we are also going to be running our Under Armour flag football program as well,” Storin said.

To register, visit https://www.footballniagara.com.