Atom - Blue

Welcome to Atom Football!

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Hello families and welcome to Cougars Atom Football! I just wanted to send out a quick note to introduce your field staff for the year and outline a few general rules for those who are new to the sport.

Our head coach for the season is Todd Grundy. Todd has a long history of both playing and coaching football and has an excellent relationship with our young players. Todd also has two players in the Cougars program so he has been on both sides of the field - parent and coach. This year Todd is overseeing a great group of assistant coaches that will be working with the team in various capacities (and will be introduced at a later date!)

Micah Shelton is our on-field medical staff. She is a nurse by training and is a incredible asset to our team. We are lucky to have her on-field looking after the inevitable bumps and bruises that come along with this sport! Before any practice or game, please let us know if there are any changes in your child's medical or physical condition we need to be aware of. 

Scott Bursey is our on-field equipment manager for this season. He is on the sidelines at every practice (and game when the time comes) to assist the with their equipment. Please encourage your kids to approach Scott at any time if they feel their equipment is not fitting properly and feel free to do the same if you have questions about equipment!  

My name is Adrienne Bodnarchuk and I am your team manager for this year. My job is to pass communication from the association to you and to act as a go between from the parents to the coaching staff. All communication from me will come through this email address (which is automatically posted on our website) and will be repeated on the Spruce Grove Atom Facebook Page which you are encouraged to join. I apologize ahead of time if the messages get repetitive! Please flag me down at any time if you have any questions or want to chat about on-field or off-field issues or concerns.

A couple of miscellaneous notes (here is the repetitive part!):

• Please dress for the weather! I can honestly say I have been guilty of under dressing my son :-( Its a good idea to pack a long sleeve top in case of rain but hoodies are not allowed on the field unless the hood is tucked in to the equipment (for safety reasons)
• In the hot weather it can get 10 degrees hotter on the turf than on the sidelines - there is no such thing as too much water! We do try to have team water on the field so if you forget the water bottle don't panic but get your kids to let us know and help themselves to the team bottles. It gets HOT with all that equipment on!
• Please feed your kids before they come. It doesn't matter if they eat supper or a significant snack beforehand, but they do need some healthy calories before they come to practice - they are working hard!
• We try to practice rain or shine, however, if the weather isn't perfect double check your email before leaving the house to find out about potential cancellations.
• Due to stringent insurance conditions, only players and field staff are allowed on the field during practice. We try to keep our eyes open for anyone needing our attention so please try to flag us down!

When you reply to this email address it will come to me so please feel free to ask about anything I haven't covered. We are looking forward to getting to know you and your kids better throughout the season - here's to a great year!

Adrienne, Atom Team Manager