Two locals down to final cuts at football camp

Two local football players are left before the final tryouts for Football Manitoba’s under-17 team.
The team, which will be cut from 55 to 36 during practice June 11-13, will compete against at least six other teams later this summer in Kitchener.
Muskie ‘A’ football coach Bob Swing approached a few of his players to tell them about the tryouts and four ended up going, said D.J. Howells, an offensive tackle who is one of the final 55 along with Peter Klyne.
During the tryouts, which run like practices, Howells said the team goes through hitting and blocking drills.
“I think they’re going to start hitting harder,” he noted. “It builds on skills. They evaluate you as a player, they’re trying to teach you skills.”
Both Canadian (including some from Kenora and Dryden) and American players showed up for the first tryout—more than 400 in all, said Howells.
Swing said the tryouts don’t really teach the kids anything different than what they learn through the football program here, but it does show them what level they need to be on to compete during the season.
“The teams that we compete against, that’s what their players do,” he remarked. “The exposure to the better competition and more repetitions makes them better.”
Swing has had players try out for the under-17 and under-19 programs before, including Kevin Tysz, who made it to the final cuts for last year’s under-17 team. He thinks Howells and Klyne stand a pretty good chance of making the team at this point.
“They’ll be better because of it, no matter what happens,” he added.
Six or seven players from the Muskie team would have had a good chance of making the team, said Swing, but attending the tryouts was a matter of how much time they have available.
“They [Howells and Klyne] are two of probably six or seven,” noted Swing.
“They’re good, coachable kids,” he added. “They were just able to commit to doing it. It’s a hard thing to do for a lot of the kids.”
The time devoted to the tryouts include as many weekends in Winnipeg as it takes.
The opportunity of making the Manitoba team is one of the perks of playing in the Winnipeg High School Football League (WHSFL), said Swing, noting Muskie players are eligible for Football Manitoba squads and even for national team tryouts.