Riot QB enjoying second season of women’s football
Aimee Kowalski is finding that she’s good at being a pioneer.
Last season, the Moose Jaw product was the first starting quarterback of the Regina Riot women’s football team.
Now, Kowalski has been named to the first women’s provincial tackle football team.
“It’s the first one ever so it would be nice to come out hard and set a tone,” said Kowalski. “There’s a lot of talent on the team.”
Football Saskatchewan hosted a final camp this past weekend to finalize the roster. Sunday Kowalski and Candace Bloomquist were named the team’s quarterbacks.
The team is split between players from the province’s two Western Women’s Canadian Football League teams: the Riot and the Saskatoon Valkyries. There are approximately a dozen Riot players on the provincial team while the rest of the 36-woman roster is made up of players from the Valkyries.
The Saskatoon team ran away with the league a year ago. They recruited a number of former college and university athletes and had a big jump on the rest of the league in athletic talent and preparation time before the first season.
“You can see how good the ex-college athletes are because they went through those steps,” said Kowalski. “They’re very coachable players. They’re very strong. They’re definitely something we would like to get our hands on for the Riot but we are definitely getting better.”
The provincial team will take part in the inaugural National Challenge Cup in Montreal Aug. 2-6. That tournament will also feature teams from Alberta, Manitoba, Québec and Atlantic Canada. The top players will be selected to play on the first Canadian women’s tackle football team.
The Riot will play the Manitoba Fearless in Brandon Sunday. They opened the season with a credible 36-6 loss to the Saskatoon Valkyries.
The Riot will conclude regular season play in the Prairie Division with a pair of home games at Mosaic Stadium against the Winnipeg Nomads and the Valkyries on June 10 and 17 respectively.
For more on this story please see Saturday's print edition of the Times-Herald.
