The 2024 Whitecourt Cats might be a young team, but along with their new coach, they are surprising rivals and fans alike

Last year, when long-time Whitecourt Cats Football coach Kevin Babiuk retired after three
decades of leadership, empty shoes remained on the sidelines needing to be filled. After two
years in the assistant coach role, local Cats dad Stephen Tapp decided to step into the position
and fill the shoes.
Tapp joined the Cats leadership staff three years ago when his middle son was playing on the
team. “I saw (Babiuk) was coaching by himself, and no one was helping him. I offered to step up
to the team. I played football in the past when I was in high school, so I knew a little bit about
what was going on. From there, I took the courses and helped out,” he explained.
Tapp said he wasn’t planning on taking over head coach duties this year, but the individual who
had planned to do it ended up taking a job outside of the community and could no longer
commit. “That’s how I ended up as head coach,” chuckled Tapp. But even as unexpected as the
switch was, Tapp said the year has been fantastic.
“It’s a great group of young players. They are very receptive to being told how to play. Two-
thirds of the team are grade nines and tens. We haven’t been able to play grade nines before
this due to our tiering. But because we are 9-man now, it has no tiering, allowing us to bring
grade nines onto the team,” explained Tapp.
Before this year, the Whitecourt Cats played in the 12-a-side league, but issues filling the roster
all season convinced them to switch down to a relatively new league, 9-a-side. “With the smaller
schools, like us, what we ran into in previous years was low player turnouts, so fielding a team
for twelve-man football gets very difficult if you don’t have a lot of players. Usually, you start the
year well, but by the end of the year, you’re on the edge. There are numbers you have to meet
with the number of players that can be dressed and the number of players that must be on
the roster at the start of the year. If they are not met, you must forfeit the game,” said Tapp.
Since the squeeze wasn’t comfortable, they decided to drop down to 9-a-side football instead,
joining other teams in the area and creating a new league, the Peace League. “Peace River
dropped down to 9-man three years ago. They were in our league before, for 12-man.
Valleyview just came down this year with us, along with High Prairie,” said Tapp.
One of the benefits of entering the new league was being able to allow grade nine students to
play. In the past, grade nine students could join the team but could only practice, not play
games. But being in the untiered 9-a-side league changed that. “We have six grade nines, and
three of them had starting positions on the team. We really have to use all of our team, and we
are doing well considering how young we are,” said Tapp.
This year’s team is so young that roughly two-thirds hadn’t played organized football. But as
Tapp explained, the roster learned quickly and gelled into a cohesive bunch able to work solidly
as a team, surprising not only themselves but other teams in the league. “As we got into the
season, and we were playing teams, I think we surprised them because of the age of our team.
They didn’t think we would be as competitive as we were. From our first game to where we are
now, we placed second in the Peace League,” explained Tapp.

With a second-place finish in the northern 9-a-side league, the team is now facing down the
provincials. “We didn’t know at the beginning of the year if we would make provincials, let alone
where we would place in the league. It’s been a great opportunity for the kids. I think they’ve
enjoyed the development. A few of them have said that football is now their favourite sport. So,
it’s been really positive.”
The Cats were supposed to host the third-place team from the southern 9-man league on
Saturday, November 9, but the Ponoka Broncs, couldn’t line up enough players for the match,
bumping it to Monday, November 11. This is the first year 9-a-side football is being held at a
provincial level through the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association.
Tapp said no matter the result from the game, and whether their season ends or if they move on
to play Wainwright in the next round of the provincials, he’s one proud coach. “They’ve grown so
much not just in football but in relationships, as a team and with knowledge and appreciation of
the sport. They have something special here playing football together. I’m so proud because
every time they come on the field; they try so hard. I can see that when they play the games.
They don’t stop. They play hard up to the final whistle. It’s been good to see that.”
He said the help he has received has also been tremendous, and he’s grateful for it. “I’ve had
coaches and past players from last year come up and help coach. It really helped. Even Mr.
Babiuk came out and even showed up for a few games to help make sure we had enough
coaches to help coach the techniques and support the team. It has been invaluable having their
support on and off the field.”
Tapp said he is also grateful to the parents who stepped up. “Thank you to all the parents who
have been supportive and helped out with the team when asked to do whatever needed doing.
They’ve really stepped up. That’s all part of this whole football family.” Go, CATS! Go! Pictures
used with this article are from the ‘CATS Football Whitecourt’ Facebook page.