Ivor Wynne hosts City Kidz football clinic

By Erin Sue
Hamilton, Ontario – Ivor Wynne Stadium hosted City Kidz as they participated in a football clinic with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Mostly made up of inner city children, City Kidz targets higher poverty area kids, but does not limit themselves to this. The program is open to any children who are interested in taking part in and have a positive learning experience outside of the educational system.

“City Kidz has a big program that runs on Saturdays where there are games, which teach valuable lessons. We talk about honesty, respect, and dreaming big. Each week they learn something new and they have a fun dynamic show that they enjoy,” explains Nathan Ellis, the Program Coordinator of City Kidz.

The football clinic introduced some of the players and their drills to the kids who enthusiastically participated while the players taught and encouraged. In total 250 children came out to play on the field with the Ticats, and will also, with their families attend the Retro Game on July 18th.

This program is in collaboration with Hage’s Heroes, which bring kids to games and offers the opportunity of meeting offensive lineman Marwan Hage, and of course pizza.

“Hage’s Heroes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are putting on a clinic for the kids from City Kidz. We want them to get more involved in football and we want to do fun things with the charity so we thought that this would be a good opportunity,” says Shawn Burke, Director of Community Relations and Communications.

Hage’s Heroes started four years ago at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and has a primary goal to bring out kids to games and get them to enjoy themselves. This Saturday will be the largest group so far that the program has brought out to a single game. This program only has two rules according to player Marwan Hage, “to smile and bring energy.”

“Look around, all the kids are enjoying themselves. Let a kid be a kid and enjoy, don’t let them worry about life. That comes later. Just worry about running around, smiling with your friends, and playing. It’s a big part of childhood. That’s why we’re here, getting them to have a lot of fun,” smiles Hage.

Nathan Ellis of City Kidz mentioned, “We have a lot of tickets that come through our door that we are able to pass along to kids and their families. This event is awesome, as well as the experience this coming Saturday. It’s great to see the players out with the kids trying to make a difference with them, also just hanging out and having fun.”

As part of City Kidz Initative Week, it’s all about having fun and enjoying a little football.