Young people ages 12 to 18 in Cochrane will be after a large assortment of prizes at the XBox NHL Tournament being held Friday, October 13th at the Cochrane Boy's and Girl's Club.

But Jason Garagang, Youth and Family Support Worker with the Safe Coach program who are co-hosting the tournament with the Boys and Girls Club says, let's face it, the most important thing up for grabs will be XBox bragging rights.    "This tournament is honestly to just come out for a night, have some fun, get your competitiveness going.....and prepare to lose, 'cause I'm going to destroy everyone."  Then he adds,  "You can probably leave that part out of the article."

Despite Garagang's, perhaps premature, bragging about his skill at XBox, he says the tournament has a bit more important reason for happening. 

"We want the youth to connect with each other a little more.  It's for youth to get to know some of the services in town, get to know the Boy's and Girl's Club, get to know the Safe Coach program and get to know each other."

Garagang explains that the Safe Coach program is a youth homelessness prevention program that works with youth and families where youth may be out of the home for whatever the reason may be.  It works toward either helping the youth transition to adulthood through connecting to appropriate resources, or works with the family to strengthen relationships so the youth can remain at home while finishing school -

He says Safe Coach also has host homes and supportive roommates where the youth can go temporarily while a longer term plan is developed.

Garagang says Safe Coach provides a temporary solution and is not designed to be a long term fix.  "It's hard to put a time frame on it but the host homes are not looked at as a long term solution to youth homelessness."

Safe Coach has just passed it's first anniversary and in the first year Garagang has worked with 37 families.  "That would mean that a youth was actually couch surfing or a youth was at risk of becoming homeless or couch surfing."

The program was originally known as the Safe Couch program through the Boys and Girls Club .  The name was changed to encourage inclusive access.   "It's for any parent, youth, any caregiver, community members, professionals.   It's not just about providing an additional place for a youth to stay other than their home."

Garagang explains that the XBox NHL Tournament is a team event, and, with their desire to connect youth, they want people to sign up in teams of two.  "If they want to sign up as individuals, we'll put them on a team," says Garagang.

The tourney is free of charge, with food, drinks and entertainment provided.  It's set for 4:00 - 7:00 pm, Friday, October 13th at the Cochrane Boy's and Girl's Club, 111 5th Avenue.

To enter you can email youtreach@bgccochrane.ca   (and that email address IS correct) or phone the club at 403 851-0167.

To learn more about the Safe Coach program call Jason Garagang at 403 851-2283 or email jason.garagang@cochrane.ca.

The Cochrane Youth Council has created a new facebook page called "What's Up Cochrane" that is run completely by youth and has information on upcoming events, opportunites, resources and other information for youth in the town.