The Eastman Raiders football club will hold an informational night at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School on Monday, April 2nd.

The Raiders are looking for feedback on a couple of specific age groups.

The 1st Down Program was implemented by Football Canada and Raiders president Charli Champagne feels it’s great way to attract players from the ages of 4-7.

“It’s already been adopted in places like Saskatchewan and it’s seen great success in bringing kids in at a younger age and introducing them to all of the different positions in football,” said Champagne. “At the meeting that I went to, the big thing that they wanted to highlight was some kids that hit high school football have always been pigeon-holed as an offensive lineman. They are big kids from crunchers and they’ve always been an o-lineman and they’ve never touched the ball, they’ve never thrown a ball.’

“This program really gives all of those kids the opportunity to get those skills in and those fundamentals and just really learn to love the game of football from a multifaceted angle. It’s going to be really exciting and something new we’re bringing in which always means a little bit more work but I’m excited to bring football in at a younger age for these kids.”

The Raiders also want to reestablish the 16-18 age group.

“We had a midget program and we had great success,” Champagne said. “We had a championship. We’ve gone to the championship weekend and it was really great for the community. To see those kids, from more of the rural standpoint, who don’t really have a place to play once they hit 15-and-16 years of age, to bring that Midget program back will be huge for them because they don’t have to travel to Winnipeg for their teams and they can still stay rural and local and play with their friends.”

The Raiders will also hold their Red Zone Camp for ages 8-15.

It will begin on April 9th and run for four sessions.

“The camp is great to build up those skills for anybody that hasn’t played football before,” said Champagne. “it’s a really great introduction to what we’re all about and hopefully we’ll bring in some new players throughout this Red Zone Camp coming up in April.”

The information meeting for the 1st Down Program begins at 7 p.m. and the meeting for the Midget Program starts at 8:15 p.m. at the SRSS Theatre on Monday, April 2nd.