Who are you?
My name is Melisa, and I have been part of community football going on 12 years. I am currently the Vice President on our board of directors. Along with a great team of people whom all work hard to help grow football in Kamloops.
Can you tell us a little about your organization,
and how long it has been active and operating?
KCFS was started in 2008. Our organization started to provide the community with football for all kids. To not only teach the kids to play football, but a program that emphasizes in leadership, dedication, integrity, respect, and fair play. We strive to give players a safe experience putting kids first and winning second.
Where do your members meet and train?
We offer a few different programs for our community, so we are widely spread in Kamloops depending on the program. For our winter flag program, we are usually at the Kamloops dome. That program usually runs between January to March. For a spring flag program which runs from April to June, we are at a few different fields all over Kamloops. Our fall tackle program starts in mid-July and runs until mid-November, and for that program we train mainly on the grass and the turf field area at the Tournament Capitol center.
Describe your members in one word.
There are so many words to describe our members. The one word that we hear from our members and their families is the word - Family. The kids in the end have a huge feeling of respect and commitment from each other which you would find in a family.
What is one of your proudest accomplishments or achievements
as an organization that you would like to highlight?
There are so many accomplishments we see in all of our programs. Our proudest accomplishment is watching all of the kids excel. For some of our kids, watching them go from the little seven-year-old Atoms all the way up to our Kamloops college team at the Kamloops Broncos. They never forget where they started. Then seeing them come back and work and play with our new little Broncos being true role models and inspirations for them to look up to.
What has KCFS been working on lately, and
what are some of KCFS’ future goals?
This season we are working along the BCPFA. The BCPFA is one of our bigger football bodies, and we will be working alongside them to start up our very first ever Football Academy in Kamloops. We will be able to provide football for every child from the ages of 7 years old to 18 years old. With high school football slowly declining in Kamloops as well as many school sports not being able to play, we have been working very hard to provide a high-level structured program where the kids can attend there school and still be able to play football with a great and knowledgeable coaching staff. We want to give the kids a feeling of high school football at its best. We are also working on providing high level football for those kids who wish to move forward with football and play on programs such as Team BC.
Who are some volunteers that you would like to highlight
in your community for their work and dedication?
We are blessed to have many volunteers that are hardworking. We are also very lucky to have a very dedicated Board of Directors that spend all year dedicated to growing football in Kamloops.
Where would you like to see positive
change in Kamloops sport and why?
We would like to see growth in other sports which could give children more athleticism and be more versatile. In order to see growth in sports there would need to be more field and facility accessibility to give the little programs room to grow.
What do you think makes Kamloops a great sporting community?
Kamloops is very lucky to have beautiful facilities both indoor and outdoor to provide proper training for our young athletes.
Tell us something that not everyone
would know about your organization?
One thing people may not know about KCFS is it is a non-profit organization run solely on volunteers.
How do people connect with KCFS to learn more and get involved?