The Stettler Wildcats have taken to the field to get ready for the season and more importantly prepare for the weekend jamboree that will be hosted in Stettler on Saturday, June 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Stettler would have had five teams visiting had Fort McMurray been still in the fray, but with the fires and their home team pulling out, there will be four teams visiting, Lacombe, Camrose, Wetaskiwin and Drumheller.
The Stettler peewees are expecting two teams, while the Atom Bobcats, playing for the first time this year will be expecting one team.
With concession and raffle going on all day, the jamboree is expected to draw a lot of crowd.
"I would like to thank all the supporting businesses," said Patty Steen, main event organizer and manager of Stettler Wildcats.
Head coach Norbert Baharally is expecting to give all his players a lot of playing time and experience during this Jamboree.
"Our hope is that by the end of the day on Saturday our new players will have a sense of what the pace of high school football is like," said Baharally. "Right now we are going to be concentrating on installing our basic offence as well as some of our basic defences."
According to Baharally, the coaching staff are trying to teach the new players some of the fundamentals of the games as it relates to the game such as the rules, safe tackling, blocking, catching and proper running technique.
Although there are a lot of rookies on the team, Baharally thinks that it is the quality of players that will determine their season.
"We have some very strong rookies this year that are coming to us with a lot of football experience and we are also getting some pretty decent linemen, who are fairly big guys," said Baharally. "We have some pretty good team speed, we will have a very strong passing game and a balanced running game to go with it."
Some of the Wildcat weaknesses that Baharally will be focusing on are trying to get the right fit for the players and putting players in the right position.
"It is important to getting our players to commit to practices and believing that we are going to win a championship together," added Baharally. "We will be a strong team capable of winning a championship if we stay healthy and if we believe in each other."