By Sheldon Spackman

Zone 4 football team ready to compete at Alberta Summer Games

Jul 15, 2018 | 9:45 AM

Hundreds of young athletes from central Alberta are gearing up for a trip to Grande Prairie next weekend to compete in the Alberta Summer Games.

One of those is the Zone 4 football team coached by Ian Rattan.

Rattan says his team is made up of the best football players aged 16 and under who reside in Zone 4, an area which stretches from Camrose in the north to Olds in the south and east and west to the Saskatchewan and B.C. borders respectively.

“What we’ve been able to do the last few years is we’ve been able to get coaches out to watch all the bantam games, all the CFL games to identify the top players that we have in the zone,” explains Rattan. “Then what we’ve done the last few years is we’ve had some development camps where we bring guys in and run kind of some conditioning camps and stuff like that just so we can identify the players in our zone that might end up making this team.”

Rattan says between six and eight tryouts then take place in the month of May when the team is selected, leaving about an eight day window for practices to be held in advance of The Games.

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“This is the fourth Summer Games I’ve been part of, so I was there in 2012, 2014 and 2016,” says Rattan. “This is the most talented group of athletes we’ve had so far which just speaks to the football players we have in central Alberta. We’re getting better and we’re catching up to kind of where Calgary and Edmonton are.”

Rattan says that also speaks to the quality of coaches in the area, pointing to successful runs at provincials last year for central Alberta football teams.

“We had a central Alberta team win a gold medal and central Alberta team win a silver medal at provincials for bantam which has never really happened before,” Rattan exclaims. “Central Alberta is getting better every year which is awesome.”

Rattan says most of the team is made up of grade 8 and 9 players.

“Typically its grade 9’s just because grade 8’s are a little bit smaller developed but having said that, we have four grade 8’s on our team this year which is fantastic because it shows that those kids are getting better and the coaching, the grassroots football in central Alberta is starting to catch up with the rest of the province.”

“We’ve got these guys buying into working towards the process, not the product,” he explains. “We get these guys buying into trying to get better with every rep, every practice. Ultimately the goal would be to go out there and try and put ourselves in a position to win a medal but if we can get these guys competing to the best of their abilities every single play, we’re going to be happy as coaches.”

With his previous experience coaching the Zone 4 football team as a Receivers Coach in 2012 and Offensive Coordinator in both 2014 and 2016, Rattan now a Head Coach, says he’s excited about this group of players.

“They’re all buying into the culture we’re trying to set up and the sky’s the limit,” he says. “We’re super excited to get to Grande Prairie and go compete and try and do something good for the zone.”

The Alberta Summer Games take place in Grande Prairie July 19-22.

Click here to view the full roster of the Zone 4 football team.