Waterloo high school senior football team benched for season due to lack of coaches, players

St. David Catholic Secondary School in Waterloo has pulled the plug on its senior football team this fall because of a lack of credible coaches and interested players.

“We looked at every opportunity for what else we can do, and in the end it was a time situation and a safety situation where we couldn’t commit to a senior team,” St. David principal David Jaeger said.

“Thankfully, at least a junior team will be playing.”

Jaegar said they need at least 40 players to safely field a team, and some coaches backed out due to other commitments.

St. David Catholic Secondary School's senior football team won't be taking the field this season. (Stefanie Davis/CTV Kitchener)

Grade 11 student Owen Schill, who would have played on the team this year, launched a petition in hopes of rallying enough support to make the season happen.

“The hope was to just kind of raise awareness that this was happening and see if we could get any coaches to come last minute,” Schill said, adding they were able to secure a few more players but still not enough.

The petition has gathered more than 1,200 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to pull it all together. Now, players and the school are focused on next fall.

“Everybody wants to do the most that they can in order to see this program be revived,” Schill said.

The program is viewed by some players as so much more than a sport.

“It made me more confident in what I was doing and just making me a better person and being stronger,” Grade 11 student Lex Wright said. “I just started being more comfortable with myself.”

For players like Schill, it was also an opportunity to impress universities and colleges.

“Football has completely changed my life,” Schill said. “It’s changed my career path, my post secondary plan – it’s opened a lot of gateways for me.”

Parents are also hoping to see a team come together for next year.

“I see it in a lot of the kids. They start to be more happy and even wanting to go to school more because there’s something they enjoy doing instead of just school work,” Lex’s mother Lisa Matheson said.

The school is hoping this year’s junior players will help populate a senior team next year. Jaeger said the school has already started receiving calls from people who may be interested in coaching next year. So as long as they get the proper certification, there’s confidence a team will hit the field again.

“We will ensure that a lot of this is organized in the spring. Therefore, come September of next year, we’re going to be ready to go,” Jaeger said.