Steel seeking more players for U16 female tackle football program

By Lethbridge Herald on February 26, 2026.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Steel are hoping for a few more players to have a team take the gridiron.

The Under-16 program is short a few players and are looking to recruit a few more interested athletes to help field a team in the Southern Alberta Female Football League (SAFFL) this season.

Akira Kelly, a coach for the U16 Steel, says she wants to see as many players register for the program. 

“We are only a couple players short from reaching what we need to in order to register as a team, but we always are wanting more. As many girls as we can get into football is always the dream.  For me personally, I hope that every girl has the ability to come and play football.”

While the sport of football is male dominated, there is a significant female football presence in the city.. Lethbridge features one of only six teams that competes in the Western Women’s Canadian Football League (WWCFL). Other teams in the WWCFL include Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon and Manitoba (Winnipeg).

Kelly says there is some hesitation for girls to get involved in the sport.

“There’s just fear around it. Starting a new sport is always going to be scary. Starting something that has been traditionally so male-dominated is definitely not easy but honestly every girl I’ve talked to that’s ever tried has found it rewarding. Definitely just getting girls to the field to even understand how amazing this program is is probably the hardest part.”

“A lot of parents it’s more or less fear of their kids getting hurt if anything. I feel like that’s between both sports but we can always like we’re padded. We’re always trained, our coaches all have safe contact training and stuff like that. We’re always making sure that girls are safe but I would say that was probably the closest to an issue that parents have.”

The scheduled for the SAFFL has not yet been released.