The Sundre Bisons are shaping up to be a speedy, agile team this year, the football team's coach recently said.
"We're looking really fast, really quick," said Tyson Dichrow.
He spoke with the Round Up last week, when the squad had already been practising twice a week since early August.
"From what I see so far, our team looks far more athletic than what I would assume most of the other teams are at."
Of course the world of football requires players on the defensive line who are able to push or block heavy-set players. But the coach is confident that so long as the Bisons can keep moving the ball as fast as possible, using their speed and agility to out-manoeuvre other teams, they stand a strong chance of coming out ahead by tiring out the competition.
While there were initially roughly two dozen registrations for the team, which is a part of the Mountain View 9 Man Football Conference, several have since stepped down, leaving the roster with about 15 players.
"There's always a few who sign up and decide it's not for them."
While the coach would always welcome more players, he was nevertheless pleased with the number who stayed aboard this year.
"That's pretty much the most we've had in the past few years."
Having more players show up for practice makes for a better opportunity to improve and sharpen skills, he said.
"We've had between a dozen and 15 kids at practices these last few weeks ó that's good, they get to practise against others instead of going up against air."
The Bisons meet Monday and Wednesday evenings from about 6 to 8 p.m. for practice at the football field behind the schools, and the coach said it's not too late to register, but new players have to officially sign on before being able to play in any league games, for insurance purposes, he said.
"We do have a lot of new kids this year."
The main focus during practices has been building up the basics, such as running, passing, catching, blocking, positioning and of course tackling, which in turn helps to determine which players are best suited for certain positions on the field, he said.
"They seem to be picking it up pretty fast, learning and adapting quickly," said the coach, adding once the players have the fundamentals down, the focus will shift over to learning specific plays inside and out "so they can go out and execute them without thinking about it."
Additionally, Football Canada has introduced new guidelines to reduce the potential for head and neck injuries during tackles. Even some of the veteran players are relearning new techniques on safe blocking and tackling, he said.
Players were previously taught to essentially use their helmet and shoulder pads as battering rams to block or tackle, but that approach had a tendency to lead to concussions and head or neck injuries, which no one wants, he said.
"It was getting difficult for a lot of teams. Some parents were reluctant to sign kids up for football because they knew there was the inherent risk of getting injured."
The new technique attempts to remove the player's head from the equation by instead using the chest and hands, he said.
The coach is optimistic about the coming season, which for the Bisons officially starts Sept. 9 on the road when they go up against Strathmore, which historically has been a strong team because it has a larger pool of players to draw from. Innisfail also has a tough team to beat, he said.
"They've got their name on that (league) trophy a couple of times."
The other teams in the league, Didsbury and Carstairs, are generally evenly matched with Sundre. The Bisons' first home games are lined up for Sept. 23 and Sept. 30 against Strathmore and Didsbury respectively.
The coach also looks forward to a unique upcoming opportunity on Oct. 7, when the Bisons will get a chance to play against Innisfail at Calgary's McMahon Stadium.
"It's really fun playing there," he said.
"It's very different with artificial turf. Should be a good experience."
