DIDSBURY - The Didsbury Dragons have found a new coach and it's someone with over 30 years of coaching experience.
Dave Cramer joins the Dragons from Airdrie where he spent last season as the offensive coordinator with the Airdrie Irish semi-pro senior team. He also coached in Calgary at Crescent Heights High School as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach.
Cramer said he heard that the Dragons were in danger of folding if they didn't find a coach and he contacted the club.
"I was actually going to take the season off," he said. "I coach for Crescent Heights, a division one team. I was going to take the year off because we're busy at work and I wanted to take time off but when a club can't play football because they don't have a coach, that's pretty sad."
The Dragons compete in the Mountain View 9-Man Football Conference along with teams from Innisfail, Strathmore, Sundre and Carstairs-Crossfield. Players must be full-time students in grades 9-12 and under the age of 19.
Cramer said that despite his 30 years of experience he has never coached 9-man football before.
"It'll be a good challenge but I'll give it a go," he said. "It'll definitely be interesting. As an offensive coordinator it'll be different. You can use a lot of the same systems but a lot of the stuff you can't. I think it'll be different for them just because of the offence we're going to run. We're going to run more motion and passing systems, hopefully, if we have the players to do it. I can run pretty much anything, it just depends on what you have for players."
Cramer's background also includes stints in North Vancouver with the Triple A Carson Graham Secondary Eagles as quarterback coach, Duncan on Vancouver Island as offensive coordinator with the Cowichan Chiefs, and in Richmond as quarterback coach and offensive coordinator for the Richmond Raiders junior team.
Cramer moved to Alberta with his wife to raise his daughter in 1998 after living and coaching in B.C. He has coached for a couple of seasons in Airdrie including with the Midget Raiders as their quarterback coach and Bert Church High School as offensive coordinator. He also annually coaches at the 904 Elite QB and receiver camps in the summer.
Cramer replaces Mark Lefebvre, who stepped down in the spring as the Dragons' head coach after 10 years.
Helping Cramer with the defensive end for the Dragons will be assistant coach Chris Vermette, a former junior player with Airdrie and Calgary.
The Dragons are looking at starting practices in mid-August. The team is still looking for players for their roster. Anyone interested can sign up on their Facebook page or email board member Lee-Anne Akister at [email protected].
Cramer said he hopes they will be able to bring in some more players once school starts and get the program really going.
"It's going to be a change from last time," he said. "I'm a division one coach and I'll run it like a division one program; that's kind of the plan. We can instill that and teach the fundamentals and go from there. That's the way we want to go with how the team is run this year. That's what you hope for as a coach. I want to see them do well. That's what you want as a coach. That's the plan."
