The Foothills Eagles flag will be flying high at the elite youth sport showcase this summer.
Fourteen products of the Bantam Eagles will compete for provincial bragging rights next month under a new banner as members of the Big Country Badgers at the 2016 Alberta Summer Games in Leduc.
“The chemistry should be there,” said Okotokian Tyson Hartle, a slotback for Big Country. “We should have a good run at the title.”
The Summer Games features the top Grade 9 aged athletes in the province split up into eight regions.
“When I first heard about it I thought that would be fun to go out and play,” said Hartle. “Then getting closer to the days of the tryouts it was getting more and more exciting.
“I’m just looking forward to getting out there and playing.”
For linebacker Spencer Kessel, arriving at the Summer Games will be the realization of a two-year journey.
“I tried out two years ago when I just finished Peewee,” Kessel said. “I tried out with all these high school level guys knowing full well I wasn’t going to make it, but I wanted to train myself because I knew two years later I would have a chance to do it again.
“It just means so much that I have a chance to play in the tournament.”
The Eagles content extends to the coaching position. Leading the Badgers on the sidelines is Cam Burbank, who served as Bantam Eagles offensive co-ordinator for the past two seasons.
“We’ve run the same systems with (coach) for the last few years,” Kessel said. “We’ve all been playing with one another for the past five, six years so the teamwork we have already, the bonds we have, will help us.”
The 35 player strong Badgers were selected based upon performances at zone evaluation camps in Okotoks and Airdrie.
Conditioning was a major point of emphasis at the camp as it will be in Leduc where football players will be tasked with an unusual schedule with multiple games over a four-day window.
“It’s going to be all about who can last the longest,” Kessel added. “About who has the most energy, who has the most determination at the end. Whoever’s got that will be the one who comes out on top.”
Twin brothers Alexander and Benjamin Leggett made the cut at defensive back.
“It was a good experience, getting out there to play football again,” Benjamin said. “It will help us a lot having experience playing together and all the other guys on the team seem really nice and I’m sure that we can all gel together.”
The twins, with just one year of experience in football, have proven to be quick studies on the gridiron.
It shouldn’t be a surprise given their surname. The siblings have a lot to look up to in Holy Trinity Academy middle linebacker Jonathan Leggett – a University of Saskatchewan commit.
“Every day, I strive to get to the same level or to pass him when I get as old as him,” Alexander said. “He’s one of the biggest reasons we got into football.”
The other Foothills Eagles making up the Big Country roster are Keaton Neish, Payton Burbank, Aden Ellis, Carson Remus, Parker Nakamura, Jacob Kamajian, Hunter Young, Matthew Tailby, Glenn Doroshenko and Callum Minor.
The Alberta Summer Games run July 14-17 in Leduc. For more information on the games go to 2016asg.com
