The Prairie Fire football team has four years under its collective belt in the Central Alberta Midget Football Association and each year there has been progress.Both for the team and the league. The competition around CAMFA has steadily improved which has attracted better athletes according to Fire Head Coach Patrick Callan.
“I’ve seen head coaches and recruiters from programs across the country come and watch this league. Basically the best athletes in the southern half of the province play in this league,” he said.
He says like any other league there are teams which drop off a bit from year to year while others step up to another level of play. The Fire are no different.
“I would say the first two years we were trying to build a culture in that we were an elite program. So we were building that image and solidifying that image.”
He feels over the four years of existence the Fire has established its credibility as being a high level, elite team.
“The kids that come and try out for us know that and they want to be a part of that.”
Most of the players with the Fire come from programs in Red Deer, Lacombe, Innisfail and Sylvan Lake but Callan says he has seen a few players from Rocky Mountain House, Stettler and Buck Lake in the past.
Players have graduated from the program for 14 to 17 year olds to move onto CIS and junior football programs in Edmonton and Calgary. It’s what the Fire does.
“Regardless of how many kids actually are successful in going on to the next level we prepare them for that environment. For the U-18 tryouts our kids are ready. For the Team Canada tryouts the kids are ready. We’ve had three kids from our program play on that team.”
The coaching staff is responsible for guiding these young athletes along that road and Callan has adapted a practice regimen he followed when playing at the University of Calgary.
“It’s a lot more high tempo. It’s a lot more fast paced, a lot more specific and situational when it comes to prep and it’s very well organized.”
The end game is to create an environment where the players are working hard, having fun and get comfortable in a setting where they have to compete, he said.
Last year the Fire finished 4-2, losing in the first round of the playoffs. The coach has his eyes set on a different result this season.
“I think we’re going to have a very good chance to win a top tier playoff game,” he said.
If that goal is reached then the Fire will be playing in a championship game.
This edition of the Fire is a younger group but Callan says they are very much an athletic bunch.
“Our defence is very strong. It’s going to be the strength of our team for sure to start the season,” he said. “Our offence is very young. It’s a new system and we’ve got a couple of fairly new athletes and it’s about getting them up to speed as quickly as possible but they’re progressing faster than we thought they would.”
Helping the cause if the fact the Fire has some players who have spent the past two years with the team and can work with newcomers to get used to the culture.
“As a result of what we’ve been doing the past four seasons essentially is we’ve improved our character on the football team every year. So it’s a lot easier for the new guys to slot into the culture.”
The Fire open up the season at M.E. Global Athletic Park in Lacombe April 1st against the Mavericks.
For more information you can go to prairiefirefootball.ca.
