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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, November 29, 2013 | 24 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" A special touch Football league one of ways W.H Morden Public School is improving student relationships with staff, each other cluding VanderHelm and Morrison, quarterback the MRMFL's eight teams. Each squad Beaver Sports Editor is named after a CFL club and features eight players, some of them girls. The six-on-six league plays 30-minute hen Paul VanderHelm became games on students' lunch break and operprincipal of W.H. Morden Public ates under American rules when it comes to School last fall, he quickly be- downs, allowing teams four chances to gain came aware of one of the largest issues he 10 yards. However, it also has some Canahad to address. dian flavour in the rulebook, which VanderThe school serves as the learning centre Helm's Eskimos fell victim to a few weeks for all of Oakville's gifted students in Grades ago when Morrison's Argonauts kicked a 5-8, meaning approxigame-winning rouge mately half of Morden's on the final play. population comes from One distinctive rule outside the school's the league has is that all south-central boundarplayers on a team must ies. And the sociologicatch one pass before cal divide was causing any player can catch a problems. second. "When we have stu"That's one reason dents from 14 different for the teachers (quarschools as well as kids terbacking); they'll be who live locally, they disciplined," Morridon't have as much in son said. "We want to common as you would make sure everybody's like," VanderHelm said. included. It's a fair-play "Some of our (senior) league." kids were getting into a That doesn't mean little bit of trouble bethings don't get comhaviourally. Paul VanderHelm petitive. Morrison stirs W.H. Morden Public School principal "So, we decided, let's the pot on an almostgive them an outlet." daily basis, blogging VanderHelm encouraged his teachers to news and notes on the MRMFL's website, choose an area they were passionate about mixing in a regular dosage of light-hearted and share that passion with their older stu- trash talk. dents. Choices from staff included knitting, There was a school-wide buzz -- `SypLEGO building blocks, robotics and chess. gate,' Morrison calls it -- when a student French teacher Steve Morrison chose somehow obtained the playbooks of all eight touch football. teams and was willing to sell them to the highest bidder. Providing role models And VanderHelm admits he faked an injuThis year marks the second season of the ry in one game this season, forcing a supply MRMFL, an acronym that officially stands for Morrison's Real Morden Football League. teacher to take the principal's place under But Morrison, a Canadian Football League centre for the Eskimos. That supply teacher fanatic who never played football in high was former CFLer Kojo Aidoo, who won school but fell in love with the sport as an the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canadian uniOttawa youngster attending Rough Riders versity football's top player in 2000. Aidoo games with his parents, said MRMFL could threw a touchdown pass on the final play of easily be an abbreviation for something else. his MRMFL debut as the Eskimos won their "Male Role Model Football League," Mor- first game of the season. "The kids who lost didn't care. They had a rison said. "Giving at-risk kids some role CFLer on the same field," Morrison said. models." Students also engaged with a former The male role models in this case are the CFL star last year when Dave Cranmer, Morden teachers. Eight faculty members, inby Jon Kuiperij W Some of our (senior) kids were getting into a little bit of trouble behaviourally. So, we decided, let's give them an outlet. W.H. Morden Public School student Jack Spero is tagged by principal Paul VanderHelm during an intramural touch football game at lunch hour. | photo by Eric Riehl -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog the grandfather of a Morden student, was a guest speaker at a school banquet. Cranmer, named top Canadian rookie in the CFL's West Division in 1968, shared the story of how he got cut from his high school team in Grade 9 but went on to obtain a scholarship from Bowling Green University. This season, a parent of a Morden student provided the school with 50 free tickets to a Toronto Argonauts home game. The W.H. Morden Home and School Association donated money to cover the cost of a bus, which Morden students, teachers and parents took to the Rogers Centre. "They had a riot," VanderHelm said. Memories like that, not just the half-hour games at lunch hour, are what Morden faculty hopes students take away from participating in the MRMFL. Liam Kirkpatrick, a gifted Grade 8 student who lives in north Oakville, found another way to benefit from the MRMFL despite not actively participating in it. He keeps statistics for Morrison's website, tracking each club's completion percentage, number of first downs and success rate with one- or two-point conversions. Kirkpatrick said coming to a school outside of his neighbourhood was initially difficult, but the MRMFL might have made the transition easier. see Principal on p.25