In a first for the Westlock Thunderbirds football club, a player has earned the distinction of making Team Alberta’s U18 Top-100 cut.
Tristin Gross, of Barrhead, is in his third year with the Thunderbirds and said the ranking came out of a Football Alberta Super Weekend camp Jan. 12 – 14, at Foote Field in Edmonton. Gross, who was named the best defensive player for the Thunderbirds in 2017 and is the first Barrhead resident to be named rookie-of-the-year in 2016, was one of the province’s 400 best high school football players who attended. He was handpicked to serve as the Thunderbirds team captain for 2018.
“This is my first season as a Thunderbirds captain but I haven’t had any real responsibilities yet,” Tristin said, adding it was exciting to participate in the Team Alberta try-out and to have scouts from other clubs approaching.
“I’ve been told it’s better for me to stay where I am right now. There’s been interest from Bellerose, the U of A and the Huskies as well. I probably wouldn’t have gone with another club anyway because I like where I am and I like my teammates. I just want to keep playing and maybe one day, coach.”
Julie Gross said Tristin likes playing for the Thunderbirds.
“It’s nice that there is so much interest, especially from other schools like St. Albert and the U of A, but he has a lot of friends on Westlock’s team. He likes where he is and he’s going to be the captain. That’s a big deal too,” she said.
Tristin’s father, Dwayne, agreed.
“He [Tristin] has been asked to help out with the new bantam team Westlock is starting up,” Dwayne said, adding he believes it will be Tristin’s job to set up drills for the new players.
“It’s hard to compete when all of the other communities have all of these feeder teams and our kids are getting into football so late. Hopefully [the bantam team] helps with the issue.”
Last spring, Gross participated in camp training with the Edmonton Eskimos.
“[Eskimos defensive tackle] Almondo Sewell approached us in the end and said he felt Tristin has a lot of talent, that he was going to arrange a meeting with the Edmonton Huskies [Canadian Junior Football team] and because the Huskies know Almondo, they took him at his word,” Julie Gross said, adding while Tristin was offered a position with the junior team, it was ultimately declined.
“We just felt that it wasn’t the right avenue for Tristin at this point. It’s a great opportunity, but not a great fit.”
Gross’ mother said it is not only the Huskies who are interested in her son.
“During this last Christmas break, Tristin took part in two camps — one with the Eskimos and another with the University of Alberta’s Golden Bears football team,” she said, adding the interest is a good sign.
“It was all preliminary and we didn’t entertain the offers very far. Tristin is young and it’s far too early to make these kinds of decisions. It’s exciting to have professionals come in and notice that your kid is exceptional because you want your kids to succeed at doing whatever it is they enjoy, so to have the head coach from the U of A express an interest, it is a pretty good feeling,” Dwayne added.
While he hasn’t been officially offered one yet, Julie alleges the recruiting coordinator for the Golden Bears intimated the possibility of a full athletic scholarship.
“Tristin is all about football. He hasn’t really thought about education, as far as entrance requirements for the University of Alberta, but we’ve had discussions and it’s exciting. He knows keeping his grades up is important to have continued success in football,” Julie said.
“Westlock has a phenomenal football team and coaching staff. It was coach [Jon] Kramer that deserves the credit for Tristin’s improvement as a player. He’s the one who pointed us in the direction of the camps and it’s because of that exposure that there’s all this interest now,” Dwayne added.
