Even though the Bobcats were up against two formidable teams out of Red Deer, playing the Bengals in their first game and Gators in their second, they held their own on Saturday, Sept. 24, coming away with stronger lessons and bonding together as a team.
“Saturday saw a couple of challenging games played by the Atom Bobcats,” said one of the assistant coaches, Mark Neitz. “The first game was a fairly evenly matched bout against the Bengals.”
The team started the game a little flat but came around giving the Bengals a tough fought game only to come up a bit short.
“Offence moved the ball consistently having reached the end zone once in the game and the defence played hard giving up three scores in the time allotted,” said Neitz. “The boys gave an honest effort and got better as the game progressed.”
According to Assistant Coach Kevin Shuckburgh, the Bobcats were able to play two of their toughest opponents, which gave them an opportunity to focus on their strengths and weaknesses as a team.
“We were able to play our two toughest opponents yet and it gave us an opportunity to evaluate what we need to improve on,” added Shuckburgh. “My biggest takeaway from the weekend is the amount of heart the boys have. None of them gave up.”
The second game saw the Bobcats up against a very strong and aggressive Gator team.
“They fell behind quickly in the score and had to regroup, working towards positive play in each set,” Neitz said. “By the end of game, the boys had achieved some positive results for their play that they could leave being happy about.”
Neitz said that at this stage of the game and at this age, the coaches were more interested in teaching the boys the fundamentals of the game and focusing on their confidence and knowledge from where they can build.
“We aren’t too concerned about the outcome or score, we’re a very young program and we wish the kids to have fun playing the game while they build on the fundamentals,” added Neitz. “What they learn and develop now will help them as they move forward into subsequent programs down the road.”