With signs of summer sparse these days, the Central Alberta Buccaneers will take to the field for some tune-up football this weekend.
On April 29 and 30, the Bucs will hold their annual spring camp to get ready for the Alberta Football League regular season that gets underway May 27.
“Our goals for spring camp are to create a good atmosphere for players while maintaining our competitive edge,” said team captain Mark Fay in a team release. “This year is about coming together as a collective and balling out with our brothers.”
The Bucs will hold two-a-day practices on both days at M.E. Global Field in Lacombe with the workouts getting underway at 9:30 a.m. The afternoon session starts at 1:15 p.m.
While they may have lost a few key players from last season, the Buccaneers expect to remain contenders in the AFL. Last year they fell to Fort McMurray in the league final despite a perfect regular season.
“The team aims to remain among the top three teams in the league and most importantly, have fun playing,” Fay said. “In the last few years, it seems that we lost some of our Buc pride. This year is about restoring that culture and coming together as a team.”
They will also host their annual “Bucs Day to Tackle Hunger ” food drive on May 13 in Lacombe.
“This is our eighth year organizing and running the food drive,” Fay said. “We’ve managed to raise approximately 3,000 pounds of food each year. We’re hoping to top that amount this year.”
Players, staff, volunteers and family will go door-to-door to ask residents for non-perishable food items.
The first home game for the Bucs will be June 3 in Lacombe.