Camrose Trojans Football

I know you all have been wondering what is happening with football this fall. Me too. Alberta is still in phase 2 of it’s COVID relaunch plan which provides pretty substantial limits as to what we are allowed to do. There is no known timeline for the start of phase 3.
The Alberta Schools Athletic Association ASAA, which governs school sport in Alberta, has provided some guidance for return to sport for 2020. To read the whole document please feel free to go to www.asaa.ca.
I do not have all the information that I need right now. We know that there are no games for the 2020 fall season. According to the ASAA we are allowed to practice within a 50-person cohort as of Sep 1 but following specific guidelines and based on the approval of our specific schools/divisions. I have a virtual meeting with the rest of the league coaches scheduled for Aug 26. Here we will share ideas with each other on what everyone else is doing this fall. I will need to meet with our coaches to come up with a proposal for the possibility of moving forward with some sort of football practices in the fall. Then this proposal will have to be approved by our School’s Athletic Department, the Principal, and the School Division prior to its implementation.
Here is a synopsis from the ASAA return to sport guidelines which I hope will provide some clarity.
Cohorts of up to 50 people (inclusive of coaches and trainers) are allowed to participate in sport but there will be no mixing of cohorts. This means practices but no games for the 2020 fall season.
Any person who participates in a second cohort (ie hockey, soccer, volleyball) must wait 14 days before switching to a new cohort. This means you will have to pick one sport cohort to belong to and if you want to switch then you must wait 14 days before starting the new cohort.
Any attendees will have to be screened for any health concerns prior to attending any workouts or practices, same as the school protocols.
No sharing of personal equipment ie cleats, gloves, etc. Team equipment will be sanitized after each practice.
There will be no locker rooms so the shack is closed except for trainers’ requirements. You will have to show up for practice changed and ready to go.
Our out of school players. I will need clarification on this and both CCHS’ and the other school’s authorization to accept our Hay Lakes, New Norway, and Forestburg players at any practices at this time.
The University of Alberta Golden Bears in conjunction with Football Alberta will be running an elite program to augment the High School Season. This is designed for the Grade 12 players that are missing the season to showcase their talents and will require tryouts to make it into the program. Successful players will be tiered and put in cohorts. Because the mixing of cohorts are not allowed anybody from our team that attends the U of A program will have to be excluded from our cohort.
There will be more information to follow, so please check the website regularly and sign up for email notifications. Thanks for your continued patience.
Coach

See below for the latest update from the Alberta Schools Athletic Association

August 11 Update to ASAA Fall Seasons of Play

The start date for the season of play for the sports of golf, cross country, and football have been adjusted from August 16th to September 1st for the 2020-21 school year. At this time, the start of the volleyball season of play will remain the first operational day of classes.

From September 1st and onward, only in-school practices are permitted.

The seasons of play for fall sports will be:
Golf: Sept. 1-29
Cross Country: Sept. 1-Oct. 29
Football: Sept. 1-Nov. 28
Volleyball: First operational day for teachers-Nov. 28

If there are to be any further postponements relating to any ASAA fall sport, an announcement will be made before September 1st. Please note that any directives provided by the ASAA are subject to change as new information becomes available, and schools must always ensure their activities are in compliance with local school jurisdictions and provincial health guidelines which may be more restrictive than the ASAA policy.

More information from us on COVID-19 protocol and return to sport resources to come soon.

What this means for us.
Sep 1st will be the tentative first day for Camrose Trojans football. There will be more information coming prior to Sep 1st. Our first scheduled game is against Stettler on Sep 3. Needless to say the schedule will be adjusted. I will be in contact with the school and the league in the coming weeks. I am sorry for any confusion and lack of clarification that this situation has caused.

Keep posted to the website for any updates.

Coach Belanger

Due to the ongoing COVID 19 restrictions Trojan Spring Camp will be cancelled for 2020. The schools will not be open and the current Alberta government limits of 15 people in a gathering have precluded us from having a spring camp this year. As the situation continues I will post updates on the website. We may be able to host some Open Football later in the summer. Stay tuned to the website for further updates.

I hope everyone is healthy and your families are staying healthy. I know that the current pandemic situation is not ideal but we will all get through this together by staying apart for now.

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic we have cancelled Open football for the month of April. If things clear up and we are allowed to restart football preparations then I will add some dates to the calendar for the spring and possibly the summer.

The next scheduled Trojan team event is Spring Camp on May 12 with our equipment signout. We are still planning on having our Spring Camp but pending the current COVID situation, whether it goes ahead or not will be out of our hands. Stay tuned to the website for any further updates.

If anyone has any questions or if you would like some football homework to work on while we are staying home then don’t hesitate to reach out.

Coach

The Camrose Trojans will adhere to Football Alberta’s recommendations and we will suspend football activity until further notice.

What does that mean for football coming up?
1. All Open Football is cancelled until further notice.
2. We will continue to plan for our Spring Camp which will begin in Mid May and end with the Lacombe Jamboree on May 30. This is subject to change pending the COVID 19 situation as we start in May.
3. The game schedule for fall of 2020 is up on our website.

Look to the Website for any further updates.

Coach