Four local football players were invited to participate in the inaugural Alberta Wild Rose Bowl.
Brady Christians, John Neumann, and Mason Ward, all 16-years-old, made the varsity team, while Zayden Ward, 12, made it at the freshman-level.
They will take part in one of two camps at the start of June, before being drafted to either teams in each category. The Wild Rose Bowl will kick-off in Lethbridge on June 23.
Neumann, a defensive end, noted the game, which is organized through West Can Football, focuses more on players from rural Alberta.
”They wanted to focus more on the country kids. With U16 and stuff, a lot of the city kids get picked for it, so they wanted to... get more of the country kids noticed.”
While he was happy to hear the news, he said he wasn’t as excited as when his mom found out.
”She just wants to see me succeed in my football career.”
Along with trying out for the Alberta U16 and U17 teams, Neumann hopes being part of the Wild Rose Bowl will allow him to continue playing.
When he heard about the game, Mason was happy for another avenue to express his passion for football.
”It was something new. Usually, when there’s a camp for Team Alberta or something like that, I like to give it a try and try to make the team, because why not?”
The wide receiver hopes to get enough exposure to allow him to continue playing at the junior or college level.
He was shocked to see fellow players from Bonnyville during the Edmonton tryout for the bowl.
“I kept talking to my friends about it, and no one had really heard of it. I didn’t think anyone would show up, but then I saw them there and was pretty surprised,” he recalled.
Zayden added, “You have friends there, and all of them support you. If you do bad, it doesn’t matter because they’ll say positive things and they give you a confidence boost.”
The wide receiver was happy to have his brother with him during the tryout.
”If I did a bad thing, he would be like, ‘it’s okay, you’ll get them next time.’ He’s always supporting me on the sidelines,” he said.
Zayden saw the opportunity as a chance to learn more about the game, and as a way to keep moving forward in the sport.
”It’s really a pleasure to get picked out of all the people that tried out across Alberta,” he expressed.
Similar to his teammates, Christians jumped at the chance to hit the field for the Wild Rose Bowl.
”I really liked it. I was kind of sad that it wasn’t a longer tryout,” he explained. “It was only a few hours, and I just enjoy playing football so much. The competitiveness of all the other guys that were there made it just a really fun time.”
With his high school career coming to an end soon, Christians hope the game will allow him to move onto the next level.
”I hope that it gets me enough exposure for college coaches as I’ve got one season left and best things best I’ll be playing in college somewhere.”
