Chiefs ready to move forward with bantam team

It’s only a formality now for the Chestermere Chiefs to officially put their entry in the Calgary Bantam Football Association.
Once Chestermere gets a couple more full commitments, they will move ahead on fielding a team for the 2018 season. They will become the 14th franchise in the CBFA, joining fellow outside-of-Calgary entries from Airdrie, Okotoks and Cochrane.
The season runs from August until November, but once the Chiefs get their official godhead — their deadline for commitment has been extended to mid-February — they will set a training camp for after the May long weekend.
“We’re pretty close,” said Chris Bailey, who will move up from the peewee team to become the bantam head coach. “We have 23 confirmed to play and about eight or nine on the bubble that may or may not play. 
“Obviously we would like to have 30 kids committed. We’re excited about at least getting close. We need a minimum of 24 players to field a team and a maximum of 34. We can’t have any more than 34. 
“Even if we had 40 kids, we could keep a couple on the practice roster. There’s always a couple injuries here and there so it’s good to have a few extra bodies.”
Bailey credits the volunteers with the Chiefs for helping spread the word and making the idea of a bantam team as part of the program a reality. They spread out over social media and with word of mouth and a flier campaign, it all came together.
Now they will move ahead and see what the team will look like on the field. Once they hit spring camp, Bailey will start slotting players into positions, and he hopes his recruits come in with an open mind. Even if they’ve played football somewhere else before, that doesn’t mean they will be staying in those spots. He will find the best spot for each player.
“Sometimes you put a kid in a spot and they will be super reluctant,” Bailey said. “A boy last year came in as a defensive halfback and we put him at fullback. He was nervous and thought he would do terrible, but he just excelled and it’s great to watch.
“No one ever wants to play o-line. You can see they are born to play offensive line. They will always be and o-lineman. You try to make it as fun as possible for them. Every other kid wants to be receiver or running back, and nothing else. It’s interesting.”