The Central Alberta Buccaneers have been busy preparing for the AFL season.
Exhibition game
The Bucs kickoff against the new AFL expansion team, the St. Albert Stars, on Saturday, May 25th at 7pm in an exhibition matchup. Both teams will use the scrimmage to work out the kinks in their systems and plays before the regular season begins. The game will be played on artificial turf at Lacombeās MeGlobal Athletic Park, which is the Bucs home field for the 2013 season. Due to the inclusion of a new team, the league was forced to reorganize its schedule. As a result, the Bucs will enjoy a six home game schedule out of a total of seven games. The team hopes that the home-field advantage will not only yield success on the field, but also attract football fans to the bleachers.
Food Drive
At 10am, May 25th, the Bucs will continue their annual āTeam up to Tackle Hungerā food drive in Lacombe. Once again, the team will be competing against the local high school football team, the Lacombe Rams, to see which team can raise the most food. Last year, over three thousand pounds were raised by the Bucs alone. After the food drive, the Bucs will prepare for their exhibition against the St. Albert Stars.
Buc Blood Drive
On April 26th, the Bucs travelled to the Red Deer blood clinic en mass in order to donate. Fifteen members of the Buccaneer family donated to the clinic, providing over seven litres of blood. While the Bucs show no fear when facing off against two hundred and fifty pound opponents on game day, most of the Buc donators discovered that they were squeamish when it came to needles. But, in the end, all members were able to donate despite their anxiety.
Bucs Pre-season
The Bucs enjoyed a strong turn-out of fresh faces during spring camp in April. A surge of new rookie players would boost the roster size and give the team depth. Joe Brooks, veteran DB and the teamās general manager, noted that the Bucs āhave depth this year. We have multiple players at positions in both the defense and the offense. That was something we lacked last year.ā
Bowl for Kidsā Sake
The Bucs entered a team into the Big Brothers/Sisters āBowl for Kidsā Sakeā event February 20th in Ponoka. Each team was tasked with raising pledges, which are used to help fund the mentorship programs the Big Brothers/Sisters provide. Despite some questionable bowling techniques due to their bulky football pads, the Bucs were able to raise over 800$. The Bucs have managed to increase the amount of pledges they have raised each year; hopefully in 2014 they can reach 1000$.
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