The Westlock Thunderbirds will kick off their Wheatland Football League season at home Aug. 29 against the Lloydminster Composite Barons. Kick-off is at 4:30 p.m.
The Westlock Thunderbirds play their Wheatland Football League season opener at home this week.
The Lloydminster Composite Barons travel to Westlock for the Aug. 29 tilt at the Westlock Elementary School football field. Kick-off is 4:30 p.m.
Thunderbirds coach Jon Kramer said about two-thirds of the team this year is new to the game, so their spring training over the month of May was focused on the fundamentals, safe contact and the playbook.
“It’s sort of a month of step-by-step, each day builds on the last. It’s a really important time for us … we’re not just teaching the skills, we’re trying to teach the whole game,” said Kramer about the focus at practice this spring.
Over the fair weekend Aug. 16-18, the team started up practice for the upcoming season. Kramer noted that a lot of the players had kept in shape over the summer, which was evident.
This year’s roster has students from R.F. Staples and St. Mary School in Westlock, as well as Barrhead, Boyle, the Athabasca area and Onoway, so after practice that weekend the team headed up to Long Island Lake for an overnight team-building trip hosted by a former player’s parent.
“From this point, we have four practices and then the game,” said Kramer.
About the Barons, last year’s Tier 2 provincial champions, Kramer said they’re a really good team, and described their program as “polished.” Kids play together from a young age since they have the progression starting at the midget level.
“They’ve got a lot of years under their belt so we’ve never beat them, but we’re hopeful,” especially since a fair number of the provincial champions graduated.
Kramer acknowledged that the team here is young, but they’re doing their best to instill competition on an individual level, then teach the players how to compete as a team to hopefully win a few games this season.
“We’re hoping we can surprise these guys and score a couple touchdowns and make it a good, interesting game.”
