DIDSBURY - A small group of dedicated parents is hoping to "save" the Didsbury Dragons 9-man football team in time for this coming season.
As reported in last week's Gazette, coach Mark Lefebvre, as well as general manager Duke Moreau, stepped down after long stints with the team.
Despite that, and a drop in players, Dragons board member Lee-Ann Akister said they are currently trying to bring together a strong board and bring in new coaches and keep the team going.
"We're kind of in a rebuild," said Akister. "We're currently sitting at no coaches and we've got just a smattering of a board. We've got some people that are staying on and I joined the board at the end of last season. We're getting pretty late in the season. We should be taking registrations right now but we're lacking people. We need to get a solid board in place, attract some coaches and then get the kids in place."
Akister said they are currently in the "talking" stage. They are hoping to get a meeting together for any potential coaches, board members, parents and anyone else that might be interested in keeping Dragons football going.
"We want to see what kind of interest is out there," she said. "If we have kids who are interested but don't have anyone who wants to commit the time and effort to keep this going for them, then we need to connect them with (another team) like Carstairs or Bowden."
Last year, the Didsbury Dragons merged with the Bowden team with most of the games and practices taking place in Didsbury. Carstairs has a combined team with Crossfield and has for a number of years played as the Carstairs-Crossfield Tigers.
Akister said they would like to have 20 players so they have enough but could make do with less.
"It would be up to the league and the coaches what they think would be a safe amount of athletes," she said. "It feels like a rebuild year. It kind of fell apart in the fall. It wasn't any drama or anything. We just had a lot of graduating players age out and their families went along with them. I believe there are kids out there who want to play. If we can find some parents or community members willing to put in the time then we can definitely get a strong team going again."
Akister has a 14-year-old son who is wanting to play. She said of all the sports her three sons have played, football is her favourite.
"It's a real team sport," she said. "There's a lot of camaraderie, a lot of support. They really learn that their actions completely affect someone else. If you don't block properly, or tackle properly, you've got injuries. You have to protect your teammates and the players you're playing against by tackling properly. You also need discipline."
Anyone interested in helping out can contact Akister at 403-559-7490 or message the Dragons' Facebook page.
