Hundreds of Alberta’s best high school football players will get the chance to play for the first time in more than a year this weekend in Red Deer.
Football Alberta’s Summer Series is set for Sunday at Setters Place in Great Chief Park, where 10 teams will play throughout the day.
“You don’t really realize how much you miss something until you can’t do it,” said Tim Enger, Football Alberta executive director.
“We’re absolutely over the moon to be able to get back onto the field and see the kids in action again. Our tryout camps alone were a really breath of fresh air. We’re really looking forward to this weekend.”
Two weeks ago, selection camps were run in locations around the province with over 800 athletes in attendance and two U18 teams, two U17 teams and four U16 teams were selected to compete against each other in Red Deer.
In normal years, Football Alberta will have plenty of provincial programs to keep young athletes busy.
“We’ll run provincial selection camps, we’ll pick a U18 team that will go to the Canada Cup, we’ll pick a U17 team that will go to the Pacific Challenge in Maui and then we’ll pick a U16 team that’ll play in the Western Championships or in every second year, we’ll pick a whole bunch of teams and they’ll play in the Alberta Summer Games,” said Enger.
“For the last year all of that has been taken away. Even this summer, none of those events are offered, so we’re doing this to try to honour those kids that want to play at the provincial level and have the talent to do so. This will give them something in the summer, as opposed to the alternative, which would have been the same as last summer: nothing.”
Tickets for the whole day are available at the gate: $10 for an adult, $5 for a student and free for those 12 and under.
Enger said he expects Sunday to be a busy day.
“We’ve got 10 teams of about 35 players, so anywhere between 350 and 400 kids, and they’re bound to bring some parents and grandparents along. We’re expecting to have a decent crowd,” he said.
“With the general public in Red Deer, they’ve probably been starved for any kind of live event to watch. Here’s a sporting event right in their backyard.”
For more information, visit www.footballalberta.ab.ca.
Sunday’s schedule:
- 9 a.m. – U16 Edmonton & North Golden Bears vs. U16 Calgary Metro Colts
- 11:30 a.m. – U16 Edmonton & North Wildcats vs. U16 Calgary Metro Dinos
- 2 p.m. – U16 Central Alberta Huskies vs. U16 Southern Alberta Knights
- 4:30 p.m. – Team North U17 vs. Team South U17
- 7 p.m. – Team North U18 vs. Team South U18
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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