Sask. gets 1st football practice robot to cut down on contact

The Mobile Virtual Player (MVP) does everything a real football player can do: it’s fast, can run routes, but one feature that has people talking is it can take a tackle without getting hurt.

The remote control tackling dummy is one of the first in Canada and is available for Saskatchewan minor league football teams to practice with.

“We can now make safe contact practices here in Saskatoon,” said Saskatoon businessman David Dubé, who paid $13,000 for the machine and donated it back to the community.

“When you’re practicing five times a week the less contact the better from a safety standpoint.”

The device which will be housed at the Saskatoon Minor Football (SMF) Field can be used for three hours on one charge.

One of my favourite tackles by @SaskHilltops on the new MVP Drive donated to @FootballSask #yxe pic.twitter.com/SiWKEsjmPd

— JT Marshall (@jtmarshallCKOM) August 18, 2017

Dube bought six of the MVPs, which launched in January out of Michigan.

“I’ve lent two of them to the Hamilton Tiger-cats because they weren’t high enough on the waiting list,” he said.

“They’re going to buy three for me next year and I’ll probably donate one to Hamilton minor football.”

Executive Director of Football Saskatchewan Jeff Yausie said this will help provide more contact in practice without injuring players.

“You don’t have to have kids hitting each other all the time anymore,” he said. “Hopefully in the future, we can have all non-contact practices and this is one tool which will get us to that goal.”