The Lloydminster Comprehensive High School Barons defensive squad runs drills on Monday night as part of a week-long spring football development camp to prepare the team for the upcoming season. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
The Lloydminster Comprehensive High School (LCHS) Barons football team was back on the gridiron this week for development camps as they prepare for their upcoming season in a new league.
Playing out of the Wheatland Football League for some time now, the Barons will make the switch to the North Saskatchewan Football League and will compete in the 5A classification provincially, something head coach Kieran Link is looking forward to.
“We’re excited,” he said on Monday night.
“Most of our sports actually play out of Saskatchewan … our volleyball team, basketball team and so on. This opportunity came up for north Saskatchewan teams to get a rural league going and we jumped on it.”
Link explained the Barons will be playing teams from Prince Albert Carlton, Prince Albert St. Mary’s, Warman and Martensville will combine to make a team, as well as North Battleford.
“It’s very exciting and we’re super pumped because we’ll be going up against some bigger schools,” he said. “I think it’ll be very competitive, and they’re all pretty big strong programs, so we have a big task ahead of us, but we’re looking forward to it.”
The Barons officially start their season in early September with exhibition games taking place in late August.
To ensure readiness for the upcoming season, the Barons are hosting skills and development camps every day after school this week to work the rust off and see what new talent will take the field in September.
“We’re doing skill development and teaching fundamentals,” said Link. “There’s kids who’ve played a bunch of football before so we’re getting them up to speed, and there’s guys who haven’t played before, so we’re teaching them the fundamentals of the game. In football, you’re going to want to block well, tackle well, so we’re teaching those kinds of things so we can win football games.”
Link also noted the coaching staff will be evaluating talent closer to the end of the week to see who fits where.
One of last year’s returning players to attend camp was Grade 10 linebacker Taya Graham.
Not only was Graham recently invited to Football Alberta’s U18 selection camp for the province’s girls team, which takes place from June 3-4 in Calgary, she was the only female on the Barons’ roster last season.
Graham explained this week is all about working on the basics and seeing what kind of new talent the team will have come game time.
“We’ll be working on things like tackling, blocking, and just getting in the groove again,” she said.
For coach Link, losing a third of your roster each season through graduation is just a part of high school football, but he’s excited to see what transpires.
“We had some starters in Grade 11 last year so we’re expecting them to step up,” he said. “We’re also expecting to see some Grade 10s step up, and I’m excited to see what we have for Grade 9s. You never know who’s coming up exactly with the Grade 9s, so every year there’s a few guys that will surprise you and hopefully make an impact next year.”
