An MVP of a different kind is looking to make its value felt in Swift Current Minor Football and SCCHS Colts practices.

The MVP, or Mobile Virtual Player, is a motorized remote-controlled tackling dummy used to simulate the benefits of practicing form tackling at game speed without player-on-player contact.

The donation of the approximately $8600 USD piece of equipment by AGI Swift Current last week was given a test drive by both football clubs.

Elden Moberg, President of Swift Current Minor Football, says medical advancements in diagnosing concussions and the impact of head injuries, among others, had dictated the necessity of a change in the way the game is coached.

"I think in past years, if you go back in football through the 1960's and 70's, I don't think anybody really had any idea what the impact was. Now that we do, we are coaching things very differently," Moberg said. "You're avoiding player-on-player contact as much as you can in practice and you're limiting it to games. If we don't do it as an organization ourselves and in football in general, kids just aren't going to play it."

Eliminating player-on-player contact can come at a price on game-day, however, as tackling stationary foam bags tend to lack the ability to prepare players for the speed of a game situation.

With the addition of the MVP to football practices in Swift Current, Colts head coach Derek Murdoch says that will certainly improve the issue while still keeping player safety at a premium.

"When we're trying to do the safe contact stuff in practice, it is kind of hard to simulate good form and speed at the same time without having the collisions," he said. "This gives us an opportunity to bring back something that's really valuable. Obviously, in a game situation, you will have a violent kind of collision every once in a while - this gives the guys a chance to prepare for it a little bit before dealing with it in real life."

Both Murdoch and Moberg will take time to discuss with their respective coaching staffs in the offseason on how best to implement the use of the device in practices at all levels of football.