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Bantam Broncs getting ready to start the season

Minor football will soon begin in Ponoka and the search is on for more players.

Minor football will soon begin in Ponoka and the search is on for more players.

Head coach of the Bantam Broncs Todd Lewis explained that training camp for the coming fall season will start next week, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, with a crop of at least 30 kids suiting up in full equipment and preparing for the opening game about three weeks later.

However, Lewis is hoping to draw in at least another 10 players to add some depth to the squad and be able to sustain the program for years to come.

“It’s always an asset to have a larger roster,” he said in an interview last week.

“Fall is always different, especially for the kids entering Grade 7, since this is the first time they will have the pads on and the more experience they can get, the better.”

He added it would be better to have any new players start training now and then they can be ready to play when the season starts, as practices will be more about reteaching the players their positions and plays that they might have forgotten about from the spring.

The first week will see practices, run from 4 to 6 p.m., Aug. 17 and 18 followed by Aug. 22, 23 and 25 then Aug. 29, 30 and Sept. 1 before the club gets ready for the season with a pair of practices Sept. 5 and 6.

The Broncs first regular season game, the first of three in a row at home, is set for PSC field against Stettler on Sept. 8. They then face Lacombe on Sept. 17 and Red Deer’s Lindsay Thurber Sept. 24.

The club will get a bye the following week before playing their final three games of the season on the road in Lacombe against Hunting Hills of Red Deer Oct. 8, versus Notre Dame in Red Deer Oct. 15 and in Sylvan Lake on Oct. 22.

Lewis wants any Grade 7 to 9 students who are interested in playing to either contact him via email at todd.lewis@wolfcreek.ab.ca or to show up with gym shorts, cleats (if possible), mouth guard and a water bottle to the opening practice.

“I’d like any that are interested to come down and see if this would be a fit for them,” he said.