Only one player from Airdrie was selected as part of the South Senior team of the Alberta Bowl and now Jamal Bacchus will have the opportunity to represent his city.

Bacchus, W.H Croxford Cavelier Slotback Receiver, said he has been playing football following one fateful longboard trip around Airdrie.

"I've actually been playing since grade nine, so since about 2016," said Bacchus. "One day I was just longboarding around Airdrie and I ended up going the Saint Martin De Porres field where the Airdrie Raiders were practicing. I just decided to sit there and watch for a little bit and their head coach actually came up to me and said I should come out to their practices and see if I like it. From there on, as soon as I entered high school, I was like 'you know what? Maybe I'll give football a try and see how it goes'."

Bacchus originally had some difficulty finding where he exactly belonged on the team.

"The first couple of years of my football career, I kind of flip-flopped back and forth between offence and defence. It wasn't until about grade eleven that I finally found my main positions at receiver and corner. The coaches thought that was the best fit for me and I kind of made things work."

The tryouts for the team happened last weekend, and Bacchus said they went well.

"They actually went really well. I didn't get to show the coaches as much as I wanted to during the practice but I did my best with what I had and I guess that was good enough for them to make a decision on me."

However, Bacchus wished he had more of an opportunity to show them what he was made of.

"My strong suit is when I have the ball in my hands and, in the tryouts, I wasn't able to get that many passes so I thought that was a little bit of a setback for me. But, I was able to kind of show off my speed a little and my route running and my blocking."

Despite the difficulties, Bacchus was sure he would make the team. 

"Yes, I was pretty confident that I was going to make it."

The young receiver said he was excited to represent Airdrie.

"I'm most excited to play with a bunch of guys I've never played with before and see the calibre of ball around Alberta and represent Airdrie."

 

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