Creighton Kodiak football player Noah Olivier often blazes trail when given open space with the ball - now he’s doing the same in heading south to chase his dream.
Olivier, who starred with the Kodiaks this season as both a defensive back and running back, has done something no Kodiak has done before, joining a major Saskatchewan football all-star team. Olivier has made the cut with the Saskatchewan Selects, a representative team of some of the province’s best high school football talent based in Moose Jaw.
The team routinely plays clubs from other provinces and from the U.S. - the club played games in Nevada earlier this season and will have more in Texas later this year.
It took some time for Olivier to find out he made the team - players would be notified via email and phone call if they made the team. One day, while preparing to go work out, Olivier got a call from coach Zeljko Stefanovic.
“Me and my buddies were just about to go to the gym and I got a call from a random number from Moose Jaw. I picked it up and it was coach Zeljko, the head coach. He asked me how far away I lived - I told him, ‘Eight hours.’ He told me that if I wanted to, I could come and play for them and I said yes,” Olivier said.
“It was happiness… it was joy. I was shocked. I wasn’t really sure before if I’d made it or not, but I never gave up hope.”
Olivier tried out for the team in November with Kodiaks teammate Carson Straile, both heading south for a late tryout after the Kodiaks were eliminated from provincial playdowns. Straile, a Grade 11 student, didn’t make it this year, but Olivier did.
The team plays American rules, 11 player, four-down football. Olivier won’t be heading to the Lone Star State with his new team - he joined the club too late for the trip, he said - but will be taking part in a series of games against other provincial all-star teams this weekend.
“They went pretty good. I definitely impressed some of the coaches down there and they definitely have some stuff to teach me, but the trials went pretty well,” said Olivier.
A more crowded field, with 11 players on each team - instead of the six-a-side football the Kodiaks typically play - and more experienced opposition will mean tough competition for Olivier, who didn’t play competitive football until hitting high school in Creighton.
“It is a very, very big difference. Like everyone there is good - everyone. Every player there is the best in their position that the team could possibly find in the province,” said Olivier.
Coming from a less established league, Olivier admits his game still has some raw edges that need work - something he and his new coaches are seeking to buff out.
“It’s been going pretty good, in my opinion, but there’s definitely been some speed bumps,” Olivier said.
“I don’t have as much knowledge as all the other kids because most of them come from 12-man high school teams, private schools, all playing 12- and nine-man football. Coming from six-man, I have less knowledge than 90 per cent of the guys there, but I’m slowly building up to their level, I guess you could say.”
With his new team, Olivier will play as a nickel linebacker, a fifth defensive back - either as a cornerback or safety - meant to bring extra punch to a team’s defence. Olivier tried out at both defensive back and running back and may have made the team at both, but his late tryout meant the team was already full for running backs.
Olivier plans to take what he’s learned down south and bring it back home with him, sharing knowledge with players for next year’s Kodiaks squad and with the team’s coaches.
“I think it's really important because I'm definitely gonna bring back my knowledge in the spring, to coach Karky [Ryan Karakochuk] and teach them everything that I know and that I've learned to alter and change, to help the team and the league grow into something bigger,” he said.
